Why Linda Ronstadt never tried to make music she “hadn’t heard at home by the age of ten”
Despite earning the label ‘Queen of Rock’, the impact and influence of Linda Ronstadt seem far more nuanced and visceral than that. For starters, condensing her legacy into the restrictive genre of rock seems far too reductive, especially considering the ways her heritage and upbringing guided everything she achieved in her artistic career.
What’s particularly intriguing about Ronstadt’s own journey to the epicentre of the rock scene is how casual she seems to feel about it. During interviews in the 1970s, for instance, she discussed the Los Angeles music scene as something that came together organically. Perhaps it did, but the calibre of talent among those she surrounded herself with, not to mention the amount she held within herself, meant that only the best were given the stage to shine.
However, in Ronstadt’s eyes, it was all centralised in one place: The Troubadour. “[It’s] really responsible for the entire music scene over here,” she once said. “It’s a place where performers can be very comfortable and do their best and other can people can see them.”
Before Ronstadt found herself in the crux of one of the biggest musical moments, however, she was already learning by absorbing the powers of those who came before.
In fact, most of her music hinges so heavily on the sounds of the 1950s and 1960s, and it’s because that’s what she grew up listening to. The best part of all of this, however, was that she allowed her Mexican heritage to filter into her rock, unknowingly and unintentionally altering the trajectory of the scene around her as she did so.
“Mexican country music was always in my background…”
Linda Ronstadt
However, as she progressed into an established artist, she remained loyal to those who shaped her as a child, setting a “rule” for herself when approaching any project. As she explained to Uncut: “I have a little rule for myself: I never try to do any kind of music that I hadn’t heard at home by the age of ten… Mexican country music was always in my background and really informed my rock ’n’ roll singing style more than anything.”
Throughout the 1960s, she held this mantra close, though she gripped it even tighter during her breakthrough years in the ’70s, enabling her humble beginnings to guide her into unexpected territories without fearing the unknown. In a way, growing comfortable in uncertain settings became a commonality for Ronstadt, and it even impacted much of her mindset and approach in the creative scene, especially when it came to observing those around her.
As a result, all of these influences and engrained musical talent made her the perfect mentor. Even as part of the same groups as some of the biggest and most legendary names in rock, she never let it infiltrate what she knew she had to offer and even offered a nurturing hand to those around who were trying to figure out their own sound.
In many ways, that is what real influence means—someone whose brightness illuminates the entire industry beyond the resonance of the sounds themselves.
