Ramblin' Jack Elliott: A Stranger Here

Contents: Rising high water blues — Death don't have no mercy — Rambler's blues — Soul of a man — Richland women blues — Grinnin' in your face — New strangers blues — Falling down blues — How long blues — Please remember me.
Recorded at The Garland House, South Pasadena, CA, July 21-24, 27-29, 2008.
"Who better to bring some musical perspective to these troubled times than Ramblin' Jack Elliott, as he takes on Depression-era blues classics on A Stranger Here, his second release on Anti-Records … part of a musical thread that links Guthrie to early Bob Dylan. And as Dylan has recently done, Elliott, at age 77, proves the new relevance of traditional blues. 'Children stand there screaming, "Momma we an't got no home,"' he rasps on the album's opener, Blind Lemon Jefferson's 'Rising High Water Blues.' Elliott brings a seen-it-all authenticity to this repertoire while Joe Henry's sympathetic production (aided by guest appearances by Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and Van Dyke Parks) is pitch perfect. … Elliott skillfully reintroduces these songs and, for that, he deserves to be no stranger to a new generation of fans" (Billboard, 4/11/09).