Featured Playlist
- 25 Songs
- Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind · 1989
- Silk Purse · 1970
- The Best of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years · 1974
- Trio (Remastered) · 1987
- Simple Dreams · 1971
- Don't Cry Now · 1973
- The Best of Linda Ronstadt: The Capitol Years · 1992
- An American Tail (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · 1986
- Prisoner In Disguise · 1975
- Seven Psychopaths (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · 1967
Essential Albums
- 1987
- 1977
- 1976
- 1975
- Linda Ronstadt is well known for the pop-rock tunes she made from the mid-'70s to the '80s, but back in 1970, she was making down-home country music with whiffs of old straw and molasses. Produced by Elliot Mazer—who was recommended to Ronstadt by her friend Janis Joplin—Silk Purse was recorded in Nashville, though its music is an intentional rebuke to the slick styles of Music Row. Ronstadt’s vision better resembles a barnyard sing-along. Even when she jumps into classic songs by Hank Williams (“Lovesick Blues”) and Mel Tillis (“Mental Revenge”), she charges them with the rollicking attitude of The Rolling Stones more than the mannered restraint of Porter Wagoner. “Nobody’s,” “Louise," and “He Dark the Sun” hit on an idyllic balance of country, R&B, and rock. Anyone who thinks of Ronstadt as a corollary to Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell needs to hear this early stage of her career, when she had much more in common with Gram Parsons. If Ronstadt had never released another album after Silk Purse, it would be enough to cement her reputation as a doyenne of California country-rock.
- 2006
- 2004
- 1999
- 1998
Music Videos
- 1999
- 1982
Artist Playlists
- The laid-back diva helped define the ‘70s sound.
- No matter the genre, this rootsy singer can always tell a story.
Live Albums
- 2019
More To Hear
- Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris made history.
About Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt has received just about every entertainment honour imaginable—Grammys, Emmys and more—in a career spanning styles and eras. Ronstadt was born in Arizona in 1946 but was living in L.A. at the right time to become part of the booming SoCal folk-rock scene. Her band the Stone Poneys scored a 1967 hit with Mike Nesmith’s “Different Drum”, and by their third album, Ronstadt was getting star billing. She began a solo career with 1969’s Hand Sown…Home Grown, applying her huge but artfully modulated pipes to a more country-rocking sound. She soon scored her first real hit with the lovelorn ballad “Long Long Time”, but it was not until Peter Asher fully took over the production reins that she became a full-blown pop star. In the second half of the ’70s, Ronstadt turned out an unstoppable onslaught of smooth, soft-rocking hits, making a wide range of other artists’ songs her own, including Roy Orbison’s “Blue Bayou”, The Everly Brothers’ “When Will I Be Loved” and The Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice”. She flirted briefly but memorably with New Wave on 1980’s Mad Love before making what was then a radical move for a baby-boomer pop singer: tackling the Great American Songbook on 1983’s What’s New. The shift was widely embraced, and she followed up with two similarly styled records. Ronstadt’s subsequent projects included Mexican songs (reflecting her background) and dream-team trio recordings with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. A degenerative condition subsequently rendered Ronstadt unable to sing, and she officially announced her retirement in 2011. She remains a pop and rock icon whose ascendance in an overwhelmingly male ’70s rock scene is an inspiration for generations to come.
- HOMETOWN
- Tucson, AZ, United States
- BORN
- 15 July 1946
- GENRE
- Pop