A 1957 Classic, Suddenly Grown Up: Linda Ronstadt’s That’ll Be the Day Became 1976’s Definitive Buddy Holly Cover
Linda Ronstadt did not simply revive That’ll Be the Day in 1976. On Hasten Down...
Melody Era
Before Nashville Claimed Her, Emmylou Harris Found Her Fate in Gram Parsons’ ‘Return of the Grievous Angel’ (1974)
A drifting highway hymn became a handoff of destiny: on Return of the Grievous Angel,...
The Song Many Fans Misremember: Emmylou Harris Made The Pilgrim, Chapter 33 Her Quiet Late-’70s Masterpiece
Emmylou Harris heard in The Pilgrim, Chapter 33 not just a drifter’s legend, but the...
After He Faced the Names, John Fogerty’s The Wall Became His Quietest and Deepest War Reckoning
Long after the slogans faded and the headlines aged, The Wall found John Fogerty standing...
Behind the Spotlight, the Struggle: David Cassidy’s ‘When I’m a Rock ’n’ Roll Star’ on The Higher They Climb Was His Fight Against a Manufactured Image
In When I’m a Rock ’n’ Roll Star, David Cassidy turns the fantasy of fame...
Before the Breakthrough, Linda Ronstadt’s 1972 Love Has No Pride Was Already Her First Great Heartbreaker
Love Has No Pride was one of those early Linda Ronstadt recordings that seemed to...
The Duet That Sealed Their Magic: Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville’s When Something Is Wrong with My Baby on 1989’s Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind
On When Something Is Wrong with My Baby, Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville did more...
Before Saturday Night Fever Took Over, Bee Gees’ Words on Here at Last… Bee Gees… Live Preserved Their Most Human Stage Sound
On Here at Last… Bee Gees… Live, Words returns not as a memory piece but...
When Three Brothers Became One Voice: Bee Gees’ Run to Me on To Whom It May Concern
Gentle on the surface and quietly affecting underneath, Run to Me is one of the...
After 40 Years, the Quiet Song That Changed Everything: Neil Diamond’s Pretty Amazing Grace and the No. 1 Rise of Home Before Dark
Pretty Amazing Grace gave Neil Diamond one of his most moving late-career statements, and on...
Before Elvis Heard It, Neil Diamond’s ‘And the Grass Won’t Pay No Mind’ Gave 1969 One of Its Softest Heartaches
Before Elvis Presley carried it into a different spotlight, Neil Diamond‘s 1969 original of And...
A Country Bloodline Revealed: Why Josh Turner Chose ‘I Can Tell by the Way You Dance’ to Honor Vern Gosdin on 2020’s Country State of Mind
Josh Turner‘s version of I Can Tell by the Way You Dance on Country State...
The Second Straight No. 1 That Meant More: Josh Turner’s Would You Go with Me Still Defines Your Man 20 Years Later
Would You Go with Me did more than follow a hit. It confirmed that Josh...
It Was More Than a Comeback: Linda Ronstadt’s 1992 Frenesí and the Grammy-Winning Heart of Mas Canciones
Frenesí let Linda Ronstadt do something rare: honor a classic Mexican love song while revealing...
A Drifters Classic Reborn: Emmylou Harris Turned ‘Save the Last Dance for Me’ into Country Grace on Blue Kentucky Girl
Save the Last Dance for Me became something deeper in Emmylou Harris‘s hands: not a...
It Sounded Like Herself Again: Emmylou Harris, Heaven Only Knows, and Bluebird’s 1989 rebirth
Heaven Only Knows opens Bluebird as a song of uncertainty, grace, and emotional maturity, and...
The Last Whisper Still Echoes: Emmylou Harris’s Prayer in Open D as Wrecking Ball’s 1995 Benediction
At the end of Wrecking Ball, Emmylou Harris does not chase a dramatic finale. Prayer...
The Quietest Moment on Trio: Emmylou Harris’ Hobo’s Meditation With Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt Carries Jimmie Rodgers Forward
On Hobo’s Meditation, the women of Trio turn an old railroad prayer into a hushed...
That ‘Put Me In, Coach’ Cry: John Fogerty’s Centerfield Turned a 1985 Comeback Into Ballpark History
In Centerfield, John Fogerty turned a baseball dream into something larger: a 1985 comeback song...
The Working-Man Soul Behind “Proud Mary”: How John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival Defined Bayou Country in 1969
Bayou Country was more than a breakthrough record for Creedence Clearwater Revival in 1969; it...
The Voice Fans Weren’t Ready For: David Cassidy’s No Bridge I Wouldn’t Cross and the 1990 Break from His Teen Idol Shadow
In 1990, No Bridge I Wouldn’t Cross let David Cassidy step out of the frozen...
Behind the Sunshine, The Partridge Family’s Summer Days Let David Cassidy Sing 1971’s Quiet Sadness
Summer Days is one of those rare The Partridge Family recordings that smiles like television...
One Quiet Masterpiece: Why Linda Ronstadt’s 1984 When I Grow Too Old to Dream Feels Like the Peak of Her Nelson Riddle Years
In 1984, Linda Ronstadt turned When I Grow Too Old to Dream into more than...
The Quietest Heartbreak of 1976: Linda Ronstadt’s Someone to Lay Down Beside Me Defines Hasten Down the Wind at 50
At the heart of Hasten Down the Wind, Linda Ronstadt sings loneliness without spectacle, making...
Caught in the Split: Bee Gees’ Tomorrow Tomorrow Became the Lost 1969 Bridge Between Robin’s Exit and Cucumber Castle
A bright, ornate single carrying a hidden strain, Tomorrow Tomorrow caught the Bee Gees in...
The Quiet No. 1 of 1975: Neil Diamond’s I’ve Been This Way Before Gave Serenade Its Deepest Moment
A song of emotional deja vu and hard-won grace, I’ve Been This Way Before found...
The No. 2 Hit That Won the Year: Why Josh Turner’s ‘Time Is Love’ Finished 2012 on Top of Billboard Country
A song about the quiet wealth of giving your days to someone you love became...
The Cover That Carried More Pain: How Linda Ronstadt’s Tracks of My Tears Hit No. 25 from Prisoner in Disguise
On Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt turned Tracks of My Tears into a softer, deeper...
The Quiet Moment No One Forgot: Emmylou Harris Turned ‘Evangeline’ From The Last Waltz Into Her 1981 Album Title
In the long shadow of a famous farewell, Evangeline became something even harder to forget:...
A Song Older Than Memory: How Emmylou Harris’s Miss the Mississippi and You Carried Jimmie Rodgers’ 1932 Heartache Into 1979’s Blue Kentucky Girl
Miss the Mississippi and You is a song about missing more than a river or...