Latest Release
- JUN 6, 2023
- 7 Songs
- Heart Like a Wheel (2013 Remaster) · 1974
- Simple Dreams · 1977
- Cry Like a Rainstorm, Howl Like the Wind · 1989
- Heart Like a Wheel (2013 Remaster) · 1974
- Silk Purse · 1970
- Queens and Queens · 1967
- Prisoner In Disguise · 1975
- Canciones de Mi Padre (Remastered) · 1987
- An American Tail (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) · 1986
- Best of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band · 1979
Essential Albums
- More than simply a supergroup, Trio was a reinvention and a reunion—a record that erased genre boundaries and quashed assumptions as it created a new template for women country artists to collaborate with one another. It is country music at its most traditional, but performed by some of the most recognizable voices in 20th century popular music: Dolly Parton, by then a titan of Music Row (if still an often belittled one); Linda Ronstadt, on the tail end of her titanic ’70s run as a country-pop-rock megastar; and Emmylou Harris, an outlaw and iconoclast who made a country career doing exactly as she pleased. It took more than a decade after the women first sang together to actually make the record—understandable, given the obligations of their individual careers and record deals. But they all stayed the course, addicted to the sound that they made together. “When we heard our voices, it was like injecting some kind of serum into your veins—it was a high like you’ve never felt,” Parton said later. Ronstadt and Harris had bonded early on over their love of Parton, and though all three were roughly the same age, they revered her. “Sometimes we would disagree about who would sing lead, because Emmy and I would always want Dolly to sing lead on everything,” Ronstadt said. Parton doesn’t always take lead, though; instead, the singers take turns out front of the lush harmonies, which in turn rest atop the sweet acoustic sounds of the all-star backing band. The Teddy Bears’ “To Know Him Is To Love Him” gets an entirely new life (with lead guitar by Ry Cooder) via Harris’ rangy warble, while the trio channels Appalachia on “Those Memories of You” and Parton’s composition “Wildflowers”—a modern classic—and early hillbilly music on Jimmie Rodgers’ “Hobo’s Meditation.” Their powers combine for a flawless effort, a canonical album by three superlative artists who have always refused to fall in line—this time, performing hand in hand.
- Named for the celebrated Warren Zevon song of the same name (sung here with Don Henley), Hasten Down the Wind shows Linda Ronstadt outgrowing the boisterously girlish persona that had made her a hippie icon. Like its predecessors, the album looks to Ronstadt’s peers (Zevon, Ry Cooder) and her formative idols (Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be the Day,” an extra-sultry version of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”). But more crucial is its inclusion of contemporary women songwriters. Tracy Nelson gave Ronstadt “Down So Low,” a husky blues about a rough breakup, while Karla Bonoff—who wrote “Lose Again,” “If He’s Ever Near," and “Someone to Lay Down Beside Me”—is the album’s hidden star. Ronstadt brings soaring authenticity to Bonoff’s resolute words. Together they formulated a realistic, grownup perspective for female pop music. Instead of the rush of newfound love, “Lose Again” deals with the tribulation of maintaining long-term relationships after the bloom is gone. While some critics may have preferred Joni Mitchell's intellectualism, Bonoff and Ronstadt tapped directly into the internal experiences of the American everywoman.
- For 1975’s Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt reunited with the team that was so successful on Heart Like a Wheel, led by producer Peter Asher and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Gold. She returned to her favorite songwriters (Lowell George, J.D. Souther, Anna McGarrigle), and though many of those works had already been recorded, Ronstadt had a way of gilding the lily. Songs like Neil Young’s “Love Is a Rose” and Little Feat’s “Roll Um Easy” almost sound like demos next to Ronstadt’s versions. Among the album’s highlights are “Silver Blue” and the title song, two J.D. Souther originals that are perfectly tailored to the uninhibited romantic longing of Ronstadt’s voice. At a time when female roles were sharply delineated, she proved it was possible to have real feelings and also have fun. Her sweetened romps through two Motown classics (“Tracks of My Tears” and “Heat Wave”) lead directly into “Many Rivers to Cross,” which morphs Jimmy Cliff’s poignant song into a hymn of empathic feminism. It’s not hard to see why singers such as Trisha Yearwood have cited Prisoner in Disguise as a key influence.
- "Heart Like A Wheel(1974) lifted Linda Ronstadt out of the second tier of female rock singers and launched her into the pop stratosphere. For the first time in her career, she was given an album's worth of exceptional songs that allowed her to fully unleash her interpretive talents. She also benefited from her new association with producer Peter Asher, who surrounded her voice with full-bodied yet uncluttered arrangements. The results are striking on the hits "When Will I Be Loved"and "You're No Good," featuring Andrew Gold's Beatles-influenced guitar work. Ronstadt plunges into a range of moods here, getting down in the highway grit for "Willing" and ascending like a honky-tonk angel on "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)." Most of all, she excels on the album's ballads, wringing the last drop of sorrow out of the title track and embodying the heartache of "The Dark End Of The Street." Heart Like A Wheel became the template for further Asher-produced Ronstadt albums, though its freshness was never quite duplicated. Linda and her studio partners fashioned a true country-rock milestone with this release."
Artist Playlists
- The laid-back diva helped define the ‘70s sound.
- No matter the genre, this rootsy singer can always tell a story.
More To Hear
- Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris made history.
About Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt has received just about every musical honor imaginable—Grammys, Kennedy Center Honors, and more—in a career spanning styles and eras. Ronstadt was born in Tucson, AZ, 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
- July 15, 1946
- GENRE
- Pop