Linda Ronstadt - Classic or Dud?

My dad claims he ran into Neil Young at a Democratic campaign HQ in Ohio in the 70s

Just watched the doc, still processing, goes pretty deep. All I have now is a a nerdy question: is that Renee Fleming dancing in the audience during the tribute concert at the very end?

Rock and Roll HoF induction ceremony and not the Kennedy Center so maybe not.

I'll have to check out the documentary. I'm not exactly a huge fan of her work, but from the interviews I've read, she always struck me as thoughtful and very modest (not to mention self-critical). It's kind of frustrating that her work isn't better, something she has said herself.

"Heart Like a Wheel" is an excellent LP, and I like a few other singles - the ones that come to mind generally pre-date "Heart Like a Wheel" - but whenever I've ventured beyond that, it's been disappointing.

Documentary is really well done.

If this is her show w Byron Berline and Country Gazette I heard (could have sworn it was a live broadcast from a studio), it's amazing---she mentions how much better this is than her tour (the early one w Neil Young, I think), where the audiences were more interested in tossing beach balls around. Digs deep into the olde roots and lets fire----scroll down for link to original post of whole show (variously labelled '72, '74, maybe others, on YouTube posts, as you can tell by their having the same setlists). Also see links to songs from a '75 set w Byron & CG, which poster says has better sound than the first show---haven't listened to much of it yet, but most of the links still work: https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

On the Midnight Special, with a very special band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SOosWH6_M

And then again, later that Rockin’ Eve, after midnight:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c41embg2Bfg

https://www.billboard.com/pro/linda-ronstadt-last-of-us-sync-wont-make-money-very-glad/

Oh, I fuckin hope this does a Kate Bush for her. I have so many Ronstadt albums I can’t even sell for a buck.

Outside of Heart Like a Wheel, there's only a few singles that I like, and that's definitely one of them.

When Capitol released that two-disc anthology of her complete recordings for them, they included a live recording from the Troubadour as a bonus - it's even better than the single IMHO. (More intimate, it isn't overpowered by an orchestral arrangement.)

https://open.spotify.com/track/6BNYxL2ss2yXfaq549uLD1?si=0cf4cf3a0f3844a7

She's only on four tracks of 2022's Putamayo Presents----Songs from The Sonoran Borderland---Feels Like Home: Linda Ronstadt's Musical Odyssey. which goes with her book of almost the same name, but they're the best on first listening, along with one I just linked on the main Los Lobos thread): "El Sueño," with blurry, unsettling, somewhat VU-ish acoustic guitar, has her waking up alert and foreboding---Springsteen's "Across The Border" (tune not as faux-Mexicali-solemn as I feared, though maybe she's keeping a lid on it) incl. Emmylou's maybe double-tracked, still thin intrusions on chorus, but LR always restores the vibe of verses---also good, if maybe a little too-drawn-out, on the thoughtful "I Never Will Marry" (Dolly v. effective on choruses)--then this one gets me right off, with the only piano (and it's a good piano) on the whole collection, and new instruments, male backup vocals keep appearing, vaya con Linda:

After a sweeping tour of the music of Mexico and the borderlands which inspired her, “Piel Canela” sees Linda and her band interpreting another Latin musical style that was ever-present in her childhood home: Cuban mambo.

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a1693140166_10.jpg

Some of the other artists' singing and songs seem blah and predictable so far, though picking is always good, and would like to hear more from her folkie relatives P.D. Ronstadt & The Co---oh yeah, also on "On The Border," notes say it's Neil Young playing that good harmonica, uncredited steel, bass, drums all effective too, one of the most robust tracks overall.

Classic voice, good material, usually rendered in a mediocre fashion.