Jazz Fest Highlights: Grampa Elliot

I had no idea who this man was. All I knew was that he was following Coco Robicheaux in the Blues Tent. I actually missed the very beginning of his set, I went to the Live Recording Tent to see what they had for the day so far. When I got back Grampa Elliot was already playing. He was sitting on the stage in front of a microphone. Stoney B was playing piano. Grampa Elliot was an elderly African-American dressed in overalls and with a big white bushy beard. He sang and played the harmonica. Hearing "Hotel California" from this man was certainly a surprise, but what was a better surprise was that he took the song and made it his own. After doing some research later I've found out that Grampa Elliot is a street singer from New Orleans. He has no record contract, he has no My Space page...in other words he does what musicians are supposed to do, sing. His final song was "America the Beautiful" with a reading of the preamble from the Declaration of Independence in the middle of the song. Listening to that song was one of the highlights of the entire Jazz Fest for me.