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IB: Yes, yes. Ramblin’ Jack.

BiTS: Tell me something about recording Ramblin’ Jack.

IB: Well, you know, Ramblin’ Jack, I had him open a benefit show that Merle Haggard did in a
tiny, tiny theatre in San Francisco in 2001, I believe it was, and it turned out that it was his first
show, sober, in years or decades. And so it was quite an important and difficult show for him
and then the response was overwhelming. I mean, it was a special show to see Merle in such a
small, small theatre to begin with and then having Ramblin’ Jack there and his ties to the Bay

area. So we did some other shows together, and eventually, it just dawned on me one day, hey,
we should make a record, So we did, and we did it in two different studios, one in Big Sur and
one in Los Angeles, and when he came in for the first session in Los Angeles, I'd covered the
control booth because he told me how he hated sitting out there by himself with his guitar and
watching people in the control booth talking to each other. I sat in the recording room with him
the whole time he recorded, and when
Jack Elliott we went to Big Sur, the same thing. I just
sat there and asked some questions and
we recorded, and did it all live. It was
done really quickly, over a matter of
three sessions and three days. Yeah, it
was great. It was beautiful and it's
shocking how often the recording
technology comes before the art or
before the performance and how many
times I've discovered that people, even
playing with just an acoustic guitar and voice, have
been forced to or made to or encouraged to play the

guitar first separately without singing, and then sing
to that. And that's not what they do. You know, that's
not what most people do. I mean, they play and sing.
That's the way you play music. That's the way the
music should be recorded, I believe, and so be it if it
doesn't sound “clinically” as good, but I believe
oftentimes it sounds better because it sounds more
natural.

BiTS: The reason why I ask is because back in the
1950s, I guess it would be possibly early 60s, I used to
go and see Jack Elliott when he was living in London,
and I was always a huge fan. I used to love the ‘Talking Blues’ that he did.

IB: That's amazing that you saw him back then. I mean, that was such a pivotal period for folk
music and for the UK, but also for him to have come over to the UK and kind of found an audience
and found his voice.

BiTS: He was pretty big for a while, I have to say, and then, of course, just almost suddenly
disappeared.

IB: Yeah, well, you know, there was that transition with Dylan. Not right away with Dylan, but
when Dylan had success after the initial slower start, things really changed. And, of course, that
coincided almost precisely with The Beatles and their arrival in America. I'm not sure there's a