“I thought it was a shame”: The band Linda Ronstadt thought broke up too early
Not every band is meant to stand the test of time in the same way veteran acts are. Most people can’t hold together a group the same way The Rolling Stones have throughout the years, and considering how toxic the relationship between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards could be at times, that’s probably for the best. Although Linda Ronstadt was always best suited as the leader of any group she worked with, she admitted that she could have easily seen this band going for a few more albums.
That’s because Ronstadt was always somewhat fearless when it came to any of her albums. Some of her best albums may have been a traditional take on rock and roll or country music, but seeing her think outside the box and make an album entirely in a different language helped endear her to fans who were looking for something different from the same old tunes you’d hear at the end of a bar.
Despite being at the front of the stage, there was a certain camaraderie among Ronstadt’s first few backing bands. Although Don Henley and Glenn Frey graciously bowed out to form Eagles, it was clear that they were in tune with Ronstadt at every step, whether that was singing along with her when playing covers like ‘Lovesick Blues’ or backing her when she covered their tune ‘Desperado.’
But as Ronstadt got older, she started to become considered a godmother in the country music realm. Other folk-tinged acts like Joan Baez may have dipped their toes into country territory, but Ronstadt was among the first women to show that country and rock can work together in the mainstream. So, if there was so much star power around her, why not pair her with two of the greatest rootsy female songwriters alive?
Despite having too much star power for one group, the album Trio Ronstadt made with Emmylou Harris and Dolly Parton is still a sight to behold. Although it’s hard to think of anyone having an issue with anything Parton ever put out, hearing Harris and Ronstadt bounce off of her gives off the feeling of a great gender-flipped version of a Crosby, Stills, and Nash record, except this time with the beautiful hooks Graham Nash would have killed to have written.
Although the band couldn’t keep things together due to scheduling issues, Ronstadt was gutted to see them not continue past that one album, saying, “I always thought it was a shame that we never toured together, because we would’ve refined what we were doing on the bus singing together, and that would have made a big difference. And doing it night after night, we would’ve gotten really tight.”
And even though every one of them is still with us to this day, the idea of them touring now is practically non-existent. Parton seems to have no limit to what she can pull off, but now with Ronstadt officially retiring from music, the thought of seeing that supergroup trio playing off each other feels like it’s lost forever.
Still, it’s better to have the document that it happened than to not have anything else to go on. Trio is a fine album and a good proof of concept for a supergroup, but their inability to get everything off the ground is still one of the greatest missed opportunities in the history of country rock.
