Rambling Jack Elliott
Season 3 & Season 7 in Tomales Bay, Point Reyes
Find More Jack:
I met Rambling Jack through connections of boats on top of boats. Years ago I was working on an ocean rowing project in a boatyard in Seattle a few years back where I met a salmon captain named Tyone. I worked his boat for a season in Alaska. There I met a fisherwoman named Lila who lived in Point Reyes. A few years ago in Season 3, when I was making my way up the coast I reached out and asked if she knew a musician who might want to sing in a tinyboat. She said ‘Rambling Jack used to be my neighbor.’
I felt like anyone known as Rambling Jack would be a fun tinyboatsession. Turns out Rambling Jack is a musical legend and an icon of American folk music. He learned from Woody Guthrie and taught Bob Dylan a thing or two. At 91 he is still performing.
Jack’s guitar and storytelling seem to have been the vehicle to pursue his love of boats and horses. I called him up and he liked the idea so a few days later Jack, Lila, and I went out for a row in his Swampscott dory named JAN. He yarned stories that wove in his neighbors in Point Reyes, musical luminaries, breaking horses on ranches and sailing on brigantines and schooners. After our tinyboatsession we would occasionally call each other up and trade a sea story. He’d sign off with some variations of “Thanks for the call, and God bless you.”
I told Jack I’d look him up if I passed through again. This time I had my rowboat CLARABELLE with me. I knew he would get a kick out of rowing the boat. It had been a long time since he rowed. His shoulder hurt a bit but he was keen to try. Well, he hopped in and spent the next 45 minutes rowing me around. We both rambled on, made each other chuckle while we and just messed about in a boat. He told me it made him feel younger, and if he kept at it, he might start going in the other direction. Instagram: @ramblinjackofficial
SEASON THREE INTRODUCTION: I know Rambling Jack through Lila. I met Lila while salmon fishing in Alaska. She lives in Point Reyes. When she’s not working the deck of a salmon boat, she puts shoes on horses and looking after alpacas. I texted Lila to ask if she knew anyone with a tinyboat and a song in their heart. Sure, she said, Rambling Jack Elliot was my neighbor. But she prefaced that while he played guitar, he actually liked boats more than music. Oh, and he was pretty well known.
I don’t really know too much about music. What I knew was that anyone named Rambling Jack was bound to have a song in their heart, and this Jack liked boats. To say Rambling Jack is well-known… is a massive understatement. I looked at his wiki page and quit reading after the first paragraph. I wanted to meet this guy as Jack, the guy Lila introduced me to who liked boats and might have a song in his heart—not the giant of folk music who learned from Woody Guthrie, influenced Bob Dylan, whom Johnny Cash said was a good friend of his, and that Kris Kristofferson could yarn about at length... For now, I just wanted to meet the man who also liked boats as he was. We had a few phone calls and predictably he rambled, and sometimes I rambled... about boats, dories, skiffs, schooners, ketches, brigs, etc… music was not the priority.
After a few phone calls, Jack said I should probably talk to his manager and daughter, Aiyana. Naturally, she was very curious about just what this was. After a few emails, we sorted it all out, and I drove out to Point Reyes to meet Jack. I didn’t come with any expectations. He’s 89 years old and tinyboatsession is all about feeling it. If he wasn’t feeling it, I would not press. I was just pretty thrilled I could help Jack get out into his beautiful little Swampscott dory. He hadn’t been out in it in a while, and he seemed thrilled to have a reason to get the hull wet.
Lila made it too. We all went out in the dory. True to his world, he storied and rambled. He might have even sang a song.
Jack had said that I might have to do all the rowing. I love to row, so I was fine with that, especially such a fine vessel as the Swampscott dory named Jan. He said he’d had shoulder issues in the past. After about an hour, I asked him if he was interested in trying. We switched positions on shore and Jack took the oars. After a few tentative strokes, his face lit up, and he started moving the boat and a brilliant grin grew across his face. He told me it made his shoulders feel great and that today he felt sixty-one.