The most important music Linda Ronstadt heard in her life: “The poetry”
Linda Ronstadt didn’t want to be known as someone who played one specific kind of music.
She was already one of the biggest names in country rock by the time the 1970s wrapped up, but even in the context of rock and roll, she was trying new and exciting things every single time she worked on one of her classic albums, whether that was trying out a country tune or embracing the sounds of new wave. But until her dying day, she knew that certain genres would hold a special place in her heart above all others.
And to get the one choice out of the way, it’s not rock and roll. As much as Ronstadt was synonymous with the scene that brought the world bands like the Eagles, there was no reason for her to keep singing a genre that she didn’t have faith in. She wanted the chance to make something that was a lot more sophisticated, but no one would have imagined that she would have grown up so quickly in between records.
Because when you look at her musical timeline, the records almost don’t make any sense. Her work with The Stone Poneys and her eventual solo work does at least check out as a natural evolution of country rock, but having her go from new wave to Broadway in the span of a few years had more than a few people scratching their heads.
There was no accurate way to guess where she was going half the time, but that was part of the reason why she got into the business. It was fun to see her try out different spaces within her own voice to see what she could do, and if making Broadway showtunes and the Great American Songbook sound great, there was nothing stopping her from trying out music that was outside of her native language, either.
Las Canciones de mi Padre is certainly not the record that anyone expected her to make, but it was only natural for her to see what she could do with Mexican tunes. Her parents had shown her these songs when she was younger, and even though she didn’t know the first thing about working with mariachi musicians, she practically knew the genre like the back of her hand whenever she was reminded of the songs that she used to sing back in the day.
This was the sound of her childhood, and even after years of making music, Ronstadt still felt that songs like this were among the greatest pieces of her musical upbringing, saying, “It was the most important music to me. I thought the songs and the poetry and the lyrics and the rhythms were much more interesting than anything I was getting in American pop music.” And when you hear her singing those songs, she practically took to the genre like a fish in water when she opened her mouth to sing.
Nothing about this record said that it should work, but the fact that Ronstadt pulled it off is almost punk rock to a certain degree. No one would have thought that she had the guts to do something like this, but even when her label was practically begging her not to release the record, she was going to do whatever she could to stick to her principles and make the kind of album that she could be happy with at the end of the day.
And while the end result might not have been everyone’s cup of tea, the fact that it managed to sell was the moment where Ronstadt’s career turned a corner. After a record like this, she could practically do anything, and she was willing to go out on a limb for the rest of her career as long as she believed in the songs.
