THROUGH THE LENS: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Marty Stuart, Eddie Vedder & More Photos of the Week

It’s time again to see what the ND photographers have been up to lately, what shows they’ve seen and, of course, the stellar photos they’ve taken. When I do one of these columns it’s certainly like that proverbial box of chocolates, you never know exactly what you’re gonna get. Every box is so very different. And so delightful.

This week’s box features 33 photos of legends from several different genres, from the eclectic to well-known roots artists of all styles. But I want to focus on three: Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Marty Stuart, and Eddie Vedder.

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott: Is there anyone more legendary in the folk world than Ramblin’ Jack Elliott? At 92 he’s still touring because, in part, he has to in order to pay the bills: Being a troubadour doesn’t come with a pension plan or medical benefits. The other part is, of course, simply a love for being on the move — it’s right there in his name. There’s another aspect to that moniker, too: I spent an evening with him some 25 years ago and found he likes to talk. It seemed that his art of storytelling did not stop at the end of the paid show. He noticeably enjoyed spinning his many tales. I was all ears.

Marty Stuart: There may be bigger names in country and bluegrass than Stuart, but few that embody the music’s spirit and soul so completely. It’s not just because he played with Lester Flatt at the age of 14 and was a member of his band until Flatt retired in 1978, then became a member of Johnny Cash’s band beginning in 1980, building a career arc that saw him form his current band for over two decades, The Fabulous Superlatives. It’s also his encyclopedic knowledge of the genres as well as being the repository of so many of their physical treasures, most notably those of Hank Williams. 

When Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman were putting together the touring band to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sweetheart of the Rodeo in 2018, who better to serve as the backup band than Stuart and his band? Stuart, of course, played one-time Byrd and bluegrass legend Clarence White’s 1954 Stratocaster. As if to keep the circle unbroken, at the show from that tour I saw at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, White’s brother and legend in his own right, Roland, was also in the audience.

Eddie Vedder: Then there’s Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder. Along with their contemporaries and fellow Seattle-based band Nirvana, they ruled the early ’90s grunge scene, which like punk before it was a force against the placidity of the music scene at the time. In 2017, U2’s Bono said, “In the end, what is rock ’n’ roll? Rage is at the heart of it. Some great rock ’n’ roll tends to have that, which is why The Who were such a great band. Or Pearl Jam. Eddie has that rage.” Coincidentally, that’s the same time the alt-country scene was also germinating, which led to the birth of the bimonthly alt-country magazine No Depression in 1995.

But lately, as evidenced by the show Peter Dervin caught last month in Seattle, Vedder has been performing solo. Surrounded by guitars, a reel-to-reel tape deck, box luggage, and a wooden board beneath his left boot that served as a percussive instrument, Vedder kept the evening mostly acoustic, mixing Pearl Jam tunes with covers by Nick Cave, Warren Zevon, and Cat Stevens. At one point he was joined by a string quartet. No one complained. (A review of that show from The Seattle Times can be found here.)

Many thanks to the photographers whose work is featured below, including Liza Orozco, C. Elliott, Boom Baker, Steve Ford, Peter Dervin, Mark J. Smith, Brenda Rosser, Justin St. Clair, Eric Ring, and Kevin Slick.

Click on any of the photos below to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow.