Humble beginnings: Glenn Frey discusses the “first lady of country rock”
It’s difficult to imagine where the Eagles would be today without Linda Ronstadt – if they would even be anywhere at all. Their earliest iteration as the backing band for Ronstadt meant they were exposed to a path of self-discovery early on, the power of uncertainty manifesting in authenticity alone as both acts strived for greatness even in the darkness.
Of course, looking back now, hindsight allowed both acts to evaluate what sort of acts they were, even if the nature of which seemed somewhat laughable. “I really was terrible in the beginning,” Ronstadt once joked during an interview with Uncut. “I had no idea what I was doing. It wasn’t until about 1980 that I really started to learn how to sing.”
Still, without such an experience, the Eagles wouldn’t have developed their own sound in the way that they did, all while learning the tricks of the trade from Ronstadt and discovering the power of country rock. In their journey to stumbling across their own specific musical sensibilities, Ronstadt provided the necessary stepping stone, influencing their harmonious style and helping them establish their own identity.
As time went on, Ronstadt became aware of this, feeling a sudden proud sense of achievement at having a heavy hand in the formation of what would eventually become the Eagles. “When we were on the road, Glenn [Frey] and Don [Henley] roomed together, and they each discovered that the other was a good singer and writer, so they started working together,” she recalled. “By the end of the tour, they decided to form a band.”
Even in fame, the fact that Ronstadt allowed the band to become developmental wasn’t lost on Frey, who once told Bob Costas she was “the first lady of country rock”. Taking it a step further, he said: “She probably more than any person is responsible for the Eagles getting together. Don Henley and I got hired by her in May of 1971 to go on a very brief tour of the South-East. Don and I told her we wanted our own band, and other people would have likely been miffed by that. Linda completely understood and said, ‘Oh, that’s great!'”
For Frey, it wasn’t just Ronstadt’s support that inspired them to go the extra mile with the Eagles. It was her technical adeptness and willingness to let others in on her own secrets. As Frey put it: “She has always felt a responsibility to educate as well as entertain. She’s always putting in a Chuck Berry song for people that might not have heard of that, or ‘Blue Bayou’ by Roy Orbison, […] I really admire her bravery and credibility.”
Of course, Ronstadt remains humble whenever asked about her involvement in the Eagles’ formation, saying that while she admittedly did have “a hand in forming the Eagles,” it was “their talent and their mutual interaction that really did it.” Perhaps most touchingly, even as the two continue to enjoy separate respective careers, they are always ready to praise one another, their fondness of those principal early days never drifting too far from their minds.
