Linda Ronstadt - Hand Sown...Home Grown, Silk Purse, Linda Ronstadt (2014)

Hand Sown...Home Grown 1969 When Linda Ronstadt recorded her solo debut Hand Sown…Home Grown in 1969, the Stone Poneys hadn't disbanded so much as dispersed, leaving Ronstadt holding a record contract. Fortunately, she was also the member with the clearest star potential, a powerhouse singer who also happened to be gorgeous. Hand Sown…Home Grown didn't make her a star -- it didn't chart and its one single, "The Long Way Around," went no further than 70 on the charts -- but it showcases her potential quite effectively. Working with producer Chip Douglas, who had previously helmed some Monkees records, Ronstadt crafts a Californian country-rock that recalls the Flying Burrito Brothers -- her version of John D. Loudermilk's "Break My Mind" isn't far removed from that of Parsons and company -- but it also has elements of L.A.'s folk-rock scene (on the front cover, she does look like she descended down the hill from Laurel Canyon). The songs stick a couple of classic country tunes -- "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," "Only Mama That'll Walk the Line" -- between a couple of Dylan covers, Wayne Raney's "We Need a Lot More of Jesus (And a Lot Less Rock & Roll)," Fred Neil's "Dolphins," and Randy Newman's "Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad." Similarly, the sound is part California, part Nashville and it's best when it doesn't reach for authentic twang: "Silver Threads" has real propulsion, "Bet No One" has a lithe, slinky sexiness, and "We Need a Whole Lot More of Jesus (And a Lot Less Rock & Roll)" strikes precisely the right blend of the two. Hand Sown…Home Grown might not quite hit the mark -- it not only has one foot in L.A. and one in Nashville, Ronstadt still has the folk affectations of the Stone Poneys -- but it's often entertaining to hear he stretch out and find her own voice, and its best moments point the way toward her future.

Silk Purse 1970 Abandoning California for Nashville, Linda Ronstadt does take a stab at relatively straight-ahead country on her second album, Silk Purse. She's changed location and producers -- Elliot Mazer, who'd later be Neil Young's right-hand man for archival projects, helmed this -- but she hasn't quite thrown herself into the maelstrom of Music City here. Many of the soft, flowery flourishes of Hand Sown…Home Grown have been traded in for steel guitars and echoing acoustics, a move that definitely reads country, but Ronstadt's sensibility remains rooted on the West Coast, favoring great emerging songwriters and revived, reworked versions of classics. Only a couple of these are classic country, however -- just Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and Mel Tillis' "Mental Revenge," which are balanced by Goffin/King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "I'm Leaving It All Up to You," R&B hits given nice country rearrangements (the latter in particular feels suited to its new barroom rendition). These rearrangements, alongside covers of Gene Clark & Bernie Leadon's "He Darked the Sun" and Paul Siebel's "Louise," suggest that Ronstadt's sensibility is a bit more cosmopolitan than country, but that's the great thing about Silk Purse: perhaps she didn't find her voice, not in the way she would a year later on her eponymous record, but this Nashville excursion had a clarifying effect, whittling down the musical excesses and strengthening her aesthetic while winding up a nifty little record in its own right.

Linda Ronstadt 1971 In many regards, Linda Ronstadt's self-titled third album isn't much different than her first two. Like Hand Sown…Home Grown and Silk Purse, Linda Ronstadt combines classic country songs -- Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone," Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces," Jerry Lee Lewis' "Crazy Arms," the folk standard "Ramblin' Round" -- with new songs from rising songwriters (Jackson Browne, Eric Kaz, Livingston Taylor, Neil Young, Eric Andersen) and an R&B cover (Fontella Bass' "Rescue Me"), but the difference is synthesis. Here, Ronstadt doesn't run from her Californian base, nor does she attempt to fit into the confines from Nashville; she finds the common threads between the songs and sounds, tying together her love of the old and new right along with her love of country, rock, and soul. Certainly, she's assisted by a versatile, sympathetic backing band assembled by producer John Boylan, a band that would later work on their own as the Eagles, but there's never a suggestion that the band is attempting to outshine the singer. All are united by the music, enjoying turning "I Still Miss Someone" and "Crazy Arms" into country ballads, breathing full life into Browne's "Rock Me on the Water," playing "I Fall to Pieces" with a muscularity that avoids overt homage, and reveling in the harmonies on Young's "Birds." This is music for the dawn of the '70s, music that shakes off some of the hippie dreams of the '60s in favor of lushly detailed authenticity that has an eye on the past while living for the present. Ronstadt might not have wound up with a smash hit here -- "Rock Me on the Water" did make some radio waves -- but this is the birth of the aesthetic that would serve her well throughout the '70s, and it remains potent.