Elliott was born in 1931 in
Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Florence (Rieger) and Abraham Adnopoz, an eminent doctor. the only rodeo east of the Mississippi. They traveled throughout the Mid-Atlantic states and New England. Elliott was with them for only three months before his parents tracked him down and had him sent home, but he had been exposed to his first singing cowboy, Brahmer Rogers, a rodeo clown who played guitar and five-string banjo, sang songs, and recited poetry. Back home, Elliott taught himself guitar and started
busking for a living. Eventually, he got together with
Woody Guthrie and stayed with him as an admirer and student. When he returned to the States, Elliott found he had become renowned in American folk music circles. Woody Guthrie had the greatest influence on Elliott. Guthrie's son,
Arlo, said that because of Woody's
illness and early death, Arlo never really got to know him, but learned his father's songs and performing style from Elliott and, according to Arlo, Woody Guthrie once said that Jack Elliot "Sounds more like me than I do". Elliott's guitar and his mastery of Guthrie's material had a significant impact on
Bob Dylan when he lived in Minneapolis. When he reached New York, Dylan was sometimes referred to as the 'son' of Jack Elliott, because Elliott had a way of introducing Dylan's songs with the words: "Here's a song from my son, Bob Dylan." Dylan rose to prominence as a songwriter; Elliott continued as an interpretative troubadour, bringing old songs to new audiences in his idiosyncratic manner. Elliott also influenced
Phil Ochs, played guitar, and sang harmony on Ochs's cover of the song "
Joe Hill" from the
Tape from California album. Elliott also discovered singer-songwriter
Guthrie Thomas in a bar in Northern California in 1973, bringing Thomas to Hollywood, where Thomas's music career began. Elliott appeared in Dylan's 1975–1976
Rolling Thunder Revue concert tour, Elliott also appears briefly in the 1983 film
Breathless, starring
Richard Gere and directed by
Jim McBride. Elliott plays guitar in both traditional
flatpicking and
fingerpicking styles, depending on the song, which he matches with his laconic, humorous storytelling, sometimes accompanying himself on
harmonica. His singing has a strained, nasal quality, which young Bob Dylan copies. His repertoire includes traditional American music from various genres, including
country,
blues,
bluegrass and folk. Elliott's nickname comes not from his traveling habits but rather from the countless stories he relates before answering the simplest of questions. Folk singer
Odetta claimed that her mother gave him the name, remarking, "Oh, Jack Elliott, yeah, he can sure ramble on!" His image as a folksy, down-to-earth country boy, despite being a Jewish doctor's son from Brooklyn, and his disdain for other folk singers, were parodied in the fictional documentary
A Mighty Wind in the character of a former member of the New Main Street Singers, Ramblin' Sandy Pitnick, a somewhat geeky-looking white man in a cowboy hat. The film's central band of folksingers, the Folksmen (
Christopher Guest,
Michael McKean, and
Harry Shearer), are said to have scored a hit album called ''Ramblin'.'' In 1995, Elliott's first recording in many years,
South Coast, earned him his first
Grammy Award. He was awarded the
National Medal of Arts in 1998. His long career and strained relationship with his daughter Aiyana was chronicled in her 2000
film documentary, ''The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack''. At the age of 75, he changed labels and released
I Stand Alone on the
ANTI- label, with an assortment of guest backup players including members of
Wilco,
X, and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album was produced by
Ian Brennan. Elliott said his intention was to title the album
Not for the Tourists, because it was recorded partially in response to his daughter's request for songs he loved but never played in concert. When asked why he did not, he told her, "These songs are not for the tourists." In 2012, he was featured on the song "Double Lifetime" on the album
Older Than My Old Man Now by
Loudon Wainwright III. Elliott has been identified as an inspiration for the character of Al Cody (
Adam Driver) in the 2013 film
Inside Llewyn Davis, written and directed by
Joel and
Ethan Coen. Elliott appeared with the Ramblin' Jackernacle Choir, adding vocals, yodels, hollers, to
Bob Weir's 2016
solo album Blue Mountain, on the track "Ki-Yi Bossie". ==Discography==