Ramblin’ Jack Elliott Rambles On

Old friend of Woody Gurthrie and Bob Dylan preps second album for Anti-.

Billboard has the details on the upcoming Ramblin’ Jack Elliott album, a collection of Depression-era blues songs called A Stranger Here. The album, due April 7th, is the 77-year-old folk singer’s second for Anti-, the label that’s currently the home to Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, and rapper Sage Francis.

Produced by musician Joe Henry, A Stranger Here was recorded in just four days and features songs associated with the Grateful Dead (“Death Don’t Have No Mercy,”) Son House (“Grinnin’ In Your Face”) and Blind Willie Johnson (“Soul of A Man.”)

“The record company selected about 15 old blues songs that I might choose to learn, and I was listening to that CD about four or five times a day for three months,” Elliott tells Billboard. “I got a good feel for some of the songs, but I didn’t memorize them. So I was a bit nervous, because I hadn’t memorized a single song. But I tried to give a good reading, despite all that half-assed preparation.”

Here’s the track list:
“Rising High Water Blues”
“Death Don’t Have No Mercy”
“Rambler’s Blues”
“Soul of a Man”
“Richland Women Blues”
“Grinnin’ in Your Face”
“The New Strangers Blues”
“Falling Down Blues”
“How Long Blues”
“Please Remember Me”