The one guitarist Linda Ronstadt called “God to all of us”
For an industry that’s all about the dog-eat-dog mentality, Linda Ronstadt was never trying to break everybody down whenever she sang.
She was happy enough being a part of one of the greatest musical revolutions in California history, and she would have done anything to get close to the kind of music that she heard coming from some of her favourite bands at the time. And while she did get to rub elbows with everyone from Neil Young to Eagles, she felt that some artists were practically like higher beings in her eyes.
Then again, you could say the same thing about Ronstadt’s singing voice as well. She may have gone through periods where she couldn’t stand the way that she sounded every time she made a record, but when you listen to the way that she soared over all of those classics that she made back in the day, there was no reason to think that she wasn’t going to be one of the biggest names in music.
And what’s even more impressive is what she did with that kind of voice going forward. No one would have thought that she could have that much range past country music, but whether it was singing standards or making the occasional record entirely in Spanish, she wasn’t looking to be a one-trick pony. After all, some of her biggest influences could reinvent themselves, so she wanted to do the exact same thing.
But the art of a great song isn’t all about the singer. Ronstadt knew that she needed to get the best musicians that she could to fill out her band, and while the earliest incarnation of the Eagles wasn’t exactly a bad place for her to start, she knew that there were guitarists who could take music to a whole new level whenever they turned on their amplifiers. Jimi Hendrix was already a legend, but Ry Cooder is the kind of guitarist who can casually break someone’s heart without even using that many notes.
Everything that Cooder ever played was from a melodic point of view, and you can hear him constantly trying to make music that would last far longer than anything else, and his instrumental work is enough to put him in rock and roll history. And while he remained enigmatic for a long time, Ronstadt was touched that the guitarist went through the trouble of being interviewed for a documentary on her.
Cooder was known for keeping to himself ever since his prime, but Ronstadt knew that he needed to be featured prominently in the documentary to get the full story of what the California rock scene was about, saying, “[He is] like a God to all of us musicians. [I was surprised he agreed to be in the film because] he’s such a curmudgeon, bless his heart.” But there might be a bit more bitterness than many people realise.
If you think about Cooder’s career trajectory, he didn’t get nearly the same amount of attention that some of the biggest guitarists in the world did, but that’s because he approached the guitar in a different way. It wasn’t overwhelmingly obvious that he was going to be one of the premier guitarists in his field, but sometimes it’s better that someone’s star doesn’t rise to the same level as someone like Jeff Beck or Jimmy Page over the years.
There’s no shame in being an underrated guitarist, and Cooder has the kind of reputation that’s more reserved for people like Rory Gallagher these days. What they played wasn’t always the stuff that filled stadiums, but there was no one who could argue the fact that they were truly at one with their instrument every single time they performed.
