Just the two of us.

by Lyndon Stambler (30 March 2020, People Weekly v49 n12 p29(1).)

Always one to keep good musical company, folk troubadour Ramblin' Jack Elliott traveled with Woody Guthrie in the 1950s and bonded with Bob Dylan on New York City's early '60s folkie circuit. Now on Friends of Mine, his first CD since his 1995 Grammy-winning South Coast, Elliott, 66, has rounded up an assortment of pals including Tom Waits, Arlo Guthrie and Emmylou Harris to record a CD of homespun duets. He spoke with PEOPLE correspondent Lyndon Stambler from his Marshall, Calif., home.

What did you want to accomplish with this album?


I hope [listeners] come away with the feeling of the genuine warmth and simplicity of the way I sing. I'm trying to tell the story the way the story hits me without blowing you away. It's not an opera.

Why did you do a duets album?

I thought it would be fun to get some of the people I admired to sing duets with me. We got them together one at a time, spread out over a year and a half. I couldn't interrupt my traveling schedule too much. We'd spend one or two days recording in the studio in San Francisco, and then I'd have to go off on another tour.

Still ramblin', Jack?

I used to be in love with going around the country and seeing everything, but I don't feel so romantic about that anymore.

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