As The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack documentary begins, we hear Ramblin' Jack sing Woodie Guthrie's "I Ain't Got no Home" while a blurred image of a man with a cowboy hat meanders through a wheat field. An obvious symbolic visual image since Ramblin' Jack Elliott is one of the most enigmatic folk singers that emerged from the 1950s and 60s—well known as a singer, but nearly as legendary for disappearing.

Now that mystery has been largely uncovered with his daughter Aiyana Elliott's remarkable film. Like discovering the origin of Citizen Kane's rosebud, we are exposed intimately to Ramblin' Jack's life and grow to understand why he often disappeared from the folk scene and never made hit records like many of his contemporaries.

While I am familiar with a number of Woodie Guthrie recordings and knew that Woodie often sang with Cisco Houston and Ramblin' Jack, I had no idea that his life paralleled Guthrie's so closely. Elliott's documentary reveals some family secrets like the fact that he was born Elliott Charles Adnopoz to a Jewish doctor and his schoolteacher wife in New York City. That surprised me because all I'd ever heard before was about Ramblin' Jack being a cowboy that rode in the rodeos and took up the spirit of Jack Kerouac by continuously rambling around the country.

No doubt that Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American treasure, just recently honored as such by President Clinton. His daughter Aiyana does a remarkably credible tribute to his musical significance through archival footage of Ramblin' Jack appearing on the Johnny Cash Show in the late 60s and through interviews and musical recordings with folk legends Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, and Dave Van Ronk. They all are amazingly candid about Elliott, as are the other interviewees.

Especially open about Ramblin' Jack is his fourth wife, Martha, the mother of the filmmaker. An especially revealing moment occurs when she is asked if Jack had any positive qualities as a father. Martha is stunned. You can see the wheels cranking as she remains silent, and then she snorts out a few laughs.

So, it's pretty obvious that Ramblin' Jack is no role model for fatherhood, and perhaps that is part of the reason that daughter Aiyana pursued this project as a way of connecting to her father. Martha reveals other items I felt were interesting and provide insights into the singing legend. While Bob Dylan was extremely focused and ambitious, Ramblin' Jack is about the most phlegmatic personality ever captured on film. The man has no plans, but just takes Life as it comes. We even see this on film, as Ramblin' Jack demonstrates that he's much more comfortable taking off on tangents and talking with strangers than he is having a one on one conversation with his own daughter.

(Note: I witnessed his remarkable randomness at a small concert in San Francisco a few years ago, as he loosely linked story after story between songs. He even stopped singing one song after a single verse—remarking that he wasn't fond of that song and didn't feel like singing it ... so he'd just do another one.)

Another telling scene that had me laughing is when father and daughter visit their old hometown in a small town on the northern California coast. For nostalgia's sake Ramblin' Jack offers to take Aiyana to their old home, the only place that they actually lived as a family for five years when she was first born. Laughably, Elliott can't remember the road that leads to their old house, going up several wrong entrances before finally giving up the search.

The documentary poignantly shows how hurt Jack had felt when he wasn't invited to participate in the Woodie Guthrie tribute at Carnegie Hall. After all, as Arlo Guthrie stated, "Without Jack Elliott, there wouldn't be any Bob Dylan." Elliott was the link in the chain—after living with Woodie for a whole year, Elliott is the man who taught Woodie's "children" the songs as Huntington's cholera began to ravage Guthrie's body. Yet as sad as this slight to Elliott was, the documentary also indicates the likely reason for the snub, as Alan Lomax and others relate how irresponsible Elliott was and how you could never count on him actually showing up.

Growing up as a massive folk fan in the 1960s, this film was a real treat to me. Seeing the old footage of Jack Elliott, Woodie Guthrie, and Bob Dylan only whetted my taste; however, not everyone will react this way. Some will feel that Aiyana Elliott dwells too much on her own relationship problems with her father. There is a scene where the curmudgeonly elder Elliott makes it plain that he really doesn't want to sit down to have a heart to heart talk on film with his daughter. On the other hand, he does deliver a touching tribute to Aiyana while introducing Guthrie's "1913 Massacre," admitting that he hasn't been the best father.

That scene brought a touch of moistness to my eyes, so I�m glad these personal scenes are left in. Some people will think that the film covers the same points and could be tightened without losing the message, but I was actually longing to see more. That's my own prejudice, though, since I was a folk song enthusiast who once had fantasies of following Dylan's footsteps. It's a real thrill to see someone who actually lived the lifestyle and even precedes Dylan.

The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack is a must see and �must own� for anyone interested in Woodie Guthrie and his followers that developed in the 1960�s.