Ramblin' Jack Elliott
 Originally from Brooklyn, Ramblin' Jack Elliott grew up in a Jewish family but had always wanted to be a cowboy, inspired by the rodeos he attended at Madison Square Garden. He ran away from home at the age of 15 to join the then-famous J.E. Rodeo, the only rodeo ranch east of the Mississippi River.
Returning home, Elliott taught himself to play guitar and started busking for a living. Eventually he hooked up with Woody Guthrie and lived with him as a kind of student and observer.
With banjo player Derroll Adams, he later toured Great Britain and Europe and had a lasting effect on the music scene there. By 1960, he had made three folk albums for the British label, Topic.
Playing in the small clubs and pubs of London by day, he would then take his act to the smart, West End Cabaret night clubs. Upon arriving back in the U.S., Elliott discovered he had become well-known within the folk scene.
Elliott's greatest influence was Woody Guthrie. Guthrie's son, Arlo, has said that because of his dad's illness and early death, he never really got to know him. Arlo acknowledged that he learned his dad's songs and musical style through Elliott.
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