Before the Spotlight Settled: Linda Ronstadt’s “The Only Mama That’ll Walk the Line” on Hand Sown… Home Grown
Before the arena lights and the polished hits, Linda Ronstadt’s “The Only Mama That’ll Walk...
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt Let Her Roots Speak First on “Gritenme Piedras del Campo” from Más Canciones
On “Gritenme Piedras del Campo,” Linda Ronstadt did not treat mariachi as a detour from...
Two Voices Catch the Fall: Linda Ronstadt’s You Tell Me That I’m Falling Down with Maria Muldaur
On You Tell Me That I’m Falling Down, Linda Ronstadt does not stand alone; Maria...
Three Voices Turned a Warning Into Prayer: Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris Sing “After the Gold Rush” on Trio II
On Trio II, three unmistakable voices took Neil Young’s dreamlike warning and made it feel...
The Storm Before the Duets: Linda Ronstadt’s Cry Like a Rainstorm Carries Her 1989 Album
Before the famous duets defined the album for many listeners, Linda Ronstadt let the title...
Linda Ronstadt’s Full-Voice Homecoming: “La Charreada” on 1987’s Canciones de Mi Padre
On “La Charreada,” Linda Ronstadt made mariachi feel like both celebration and inheritance, turning a...
A Jukebox Became a Mirror When Linda Ronstadt Made Hey Mister, That’s Me Up on the Jukebox Her Prisoner in Disguise Deep Cut
On Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt turned a song about hearing yourself in public into...
The Restraint That Reframed Linda Ronstadt’s Lover Man on What’s New with Nelson Riddle
On What’s New, Linda Ronstadt sang “Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?)” as if...
Linda Ronstadt Turned Little Feat’s “All That You Dream” Into a Private Reckoning on Living in the USA
On Living in the USA, Linda Ronstadt took Little Feat’s loose, streetwise groove and made...
Before Trio Had a Name, Emmylou Harris’ 1979 Light of the Stable Gathered Dolly, Linda, and Neil
Long before country music formalized its famous sisterhood, Emmylou Harris gathered four unmistakable voices around...
The Plea Got Tougher: Linda Ronstadt Recharged The Exciters’ Tell Him on Get Closer
On Get Closer, Linda Ronstadt turned The Exciters‘ urgent Tell Him from a teenage command...
Linda Ronstadt’s Quietest Choice on Jimmy Webb’s Easy for You to Say Made Get Closer Ache Differently
On Get Closer, Linda Ronstadt let Jimmy Webb’s wounded elegance speak softly, turning Easy for...
Before the Big Ballads, Linda Ronstadt’s ‘He Darked the Sun’ on Silk Purse Showed Her Country-Rock Nerve
On Silk Purse, Linda Ronstadt found a shadowed country-rock song and sang it as if...
One Linda Ronstadt Harmony Reframed Emmylou Harris’s Queen of the Silver Dollar on Pieces of the Sky
On Pieces of the Sky, Emmylou Harris gave Shel Silverstein’s barroom queen a voice of...
Linda Ronstadt Barely Raises Her Voice on “Roll Um Easy”—That Is the Power of Prisoner in Disguise
On Roll Um Easy, Linda Ronstadt turns a Little Feat song into a study in...
The Quiet Exit Linda Ronstadt Chose: Old Paint and the Cowboy Soul of Simple Dreams
At the end of Simple Dreams, Linda Ronstadt turned from hit-making polish toward an older...
The Quiet Trap Inside Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 “Prisoner in Disguise,” with J.D. Souther Close Behind
In Linda Ronstadt’s 1975 title track, freedom sounds less like escape than the brave admission...
Before Trio Had a Name, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris Lifted My Blue Tears on Get Closer
Before the word Trio became a promise, three voices met inside My Blue Tears and...
The Quiet Ache on Simple Dreams: Linda Ronstadt’s Sorrow Lives Here Refused to Compete With the Hits
On a blockbuster album crowded with radio landmarks, Linda Ronstadt made Eric Kaz’s quiet grief...
Before the Spotlight Shifted: Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys’ Some of Shelly’s Blues on Vol. III
On Vol. III, Linda Ronstadt was still inside a band, but Some of Shelly’s Blues...
Linda Ronstadt’s Quietest Power: Eric Kaz’s “Sorrow Lives Here” Inside Simple Dreams
On Sorrow Lives Here, Linda Ronstadt turns restraint into force, finding the still center of...
Late-Career Restraint Gave Linda Ronstadt’s Ruler of My Heart Its Edge on 1998’s We Ran
On We Ran, Linda Ronstadt turned Ruler of My Heart into something quieter than surrender:...
A Private Beach Boys Song Became Linda Ronstadt’s Softest Lullaby: In My Room on Dedicated to the One I Love
Linda Ronstadt took The Beach Boys’ private teenage shelter and sang it as a lullaby,...
The Quiet Detour on Hasten Down the Wind: Linda Ronstadt’s A Cappella ‘Rivers of Babylon’
In less than a minute, Linda Ronstadt made “Rivers of Babylon” sound like a doorway...
Before the Ballads, Linda Ronstadt’s The Only Mama That’ll Walk the Line Came Roaring Out of Hand Sown… Home Grown
On her 1969 solo debut, Linda Ronstadt turned a hard-charging country number into an early...
That Voice Held Nothing Back: Linda Ronstadt’s Tracy Nelson Cover “Down So Low” on Her Grammy-Winning Hasten Down the Wind
On “Down So Low”, Linda Ronstadt proves that power is only the beginning; the deeper...
Three Voices, One Appalachian Memory: Emmylou Harris’s “Gold Watch and Chain” With Ricky Skaggs and Linda Ronstadt
On Roses in the Snow, Emmylou Harris turned an old Carter Family treasure into a...
The River She Made Her Own: Linda Ronstadt Reimagined Jimmy Cliff’s Many Rivers to Cross on Prisoner in Disguise
On Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt turned Jimmy Cliff’s weary prayer into a wide-open confession...
The Quiet Song Fans Missed: Linda Ronstadt’s Colorado on 1973’s Don’t Cry Now
Before the great radio triumphs arrived, Linda Ronstadt found a quieter kind of country-rock grace...
That Voice Still Had Fire: Linda Ronstadt’s Ruler of My Heart Was the Hidden Soul Prize of 1998’s We Ran
On We Ran, Linda Ronstadt turned a New Orleans soul classic into a late-career reminder...