Tweet

Album Details

• Artist: Ramblin' Jack Elliott
• Album: I Stand Alone
• Label: Anti
• Year of Release: 2006
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2006-09-06

Elliott has settled into quite the forceful walking encyclopedia of American music, and on I Stand Alone he brings another box of goodies out into the light at just the right time. Special guests Nels Cline and Lucinda Williams and Flea contribute, but only by rounding out the sound. The stars here are Elliott and his guitar, and his playing has only gotten more solid and fluid. Here are songs by the Carter Family ("Engine 143") and Leadbelly ("Jean Harlow") as well as more recent but still standard tunes by Ernest Tubb and Hoagy Carmichael. By blending country, folk, blues, as well as tripping the edges of the Great American Songbook, Elliott makes old saws new, and in the process reminds us of some of the core values that drove such music. That is much needed today in the states, where we seem to be listening to one leader after another speak in ways that would make the founding fathers puke. I Stand Alone points not only to the past, but to possible future voices of reason.

User Reviews and Comments

Log In or Register to Rate Albums