Legendary folksinger to perform at Sun Valley Opera Hous
By Dana DuGan
Folk music and its early innovators are as American a musical tradition as jazz and the blues. For its inaugural public concert, the newly formed Sun Valley Records will present Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, one of those innovators, at the Sun Valley Opera House, 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 2. Graham Guest will open the show.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1931, Elliott was actually Ramblin’ Jack’s first name. He ran away from home at 15 to join a rodeo, where a cowboy taught him his first licks on a guitar. Though he was brought home three months later, the seeds to become a traveling troubadour were planted. Elliott met Woody Guthrie in 1950, and absorbed his style and songs while touring with him.
In turn, Elliott became a mentor and influence on Guthrie’s son, Arlo, and a young folkie named Bob Dylan, along with Phil Ochs, Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, The Grateful Dead and many others. Elliott’s nickname is a reference to the myriad stories he relates rather than his traveling ways.
Throughout his legendary career, Elliott has performed as an interpretative troubadour who introduces old songs to audiences in his unique ramblin’ manner. He won his first Grammy Award in 1995, and was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1998.
“We discovered he would be on tour and realized Sun Valley Records could honor him,” said Elizabeth Hendrix, a principal with the organization. “He’s a legendary musician.”
An independent distributor and label services company, Sun Valley Records is the brainchild of Wood River Valley residents Don Zimmer and Hendrix, who met and conceived of the company at the Ketchum Innovation Center. Its mission is to aid musicians in growing their careers through distribution and support.
“We met at KIC—he was in music, while I was working on fundraising for film projects,” Hendrix said. “Our worlds just collided. We’re really trying to promote the local music scene. We’re also into collaboration; it’s a different mentality, community-based, music-centric looking for solutions for musicians. Sun Valley Records wants to be openhearted, and be responsive to things that come up. Bringing Ramblin’ Jack here is a special opportunity.”
Online, Sun Valley Records offers CDs and musician links, and also has a Musician Fund for tax-deductible donations managed by a separate entity, financial advisor Mark George.
“We honor original content and new original music, and have made it available in a way that gives the artist a bigger return,” Zimmer said. “What else can we do? Let’s help with better gigs, better promotion, and be a friend to local musicians.”
For its first concert, they approached Elliott, whom they met through another project, “Life on the Water,” of which Zimmer is the producer. The project makes short documentaries about people who live on the water. Elliott is the subject of one of these films.
“Jack is an avid sailor,” Hendrix said. “We want to screen the documentary here, eventually.”
At the concert, there will be a raffle for tickets to the screening of the Jack Elliott “Life on the Water” documentary. Sun Valley Records will also offer discounts to the concert for local musicians. And 10 percent of profits will go to the Sun Valley Records Musician Fund.
Sun Valley Records also produced “Keepin’ It Local,” a compilation of music by 22 local musicians, such as Sequestrada, Bruce Innes, Mia Edsell, and Old Death Whisper. It is available for sale at The Community Library, for which it benefits.
For more information about the concert and about Sun Valley Records, visit sunvalleyrecords.com. Tickets are also available through ticketfly or Sun Valley Resort at (208) 622-2135.