"Blue Bayou," Linda Ronstadt

The Roy Orbison classic, performed in 1977. Rush was still working as a DJ when this was a hit. Bet he showed more respect for women back then.
Hat tip to Paul Arndt

"Silver Threads And Golden Needles"

Be still my rockin' heart: Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles, her former band, helping invent alt.-country. Hat tip to my blogging buddy Deke Rivers.

It's All About The Duet

Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt. "Don't Know Much" is from her epic 1989 album "Cry Like A Rainstorm, Howl Like The Wind."

Ouch

In a Matt Bai analysis that attaches way too much cosmic significance to the fact that a couple of old politicians are back in the saddle, a slap at old voters:

[Jerry] Brown was famous then for dating Linda Ronstadt. You can Google her, or just ask your mom.

La Voz Linda

Linda Ronstadt, a versatile interpreter of American popular songs both norte and sur, was one of the premier voices of the 1970s and early 1980s. I first saw her perform in a bar with peanut shells on the floor in San Diego, just before she became a superstar with her album "Heart Like A Wheel" in 1974. I waved, but I doubt she remembers.

A "No Depression" blogger, in the course of atoning for things he wishes he hadn't said over several beers, offers a compilation of quotations from and about her, including this 2000 look-back at her roots:

I remember the Byrds were happening and doing folk-rock, and I thought, there you go. So I went to the Troubador. I grew up singing Mexican music, and that's based on indigenous Mexican rhythms. Mexican music also has an overlay of West African music, based on huapango drums, and it's kind of like a 6/8 [time signature], but it really is a very syncopated 6/8. And that's how I attack vocals. Rock `n' roll comes from black music, and I came from Mexican music.

Whether any of us understood that or not, let me just say this: She's the only person in the world you probably want to hear sing "Tumbling Dice" besides Mick Jagger. I remember reading that he stopped by the studio to make sure she had the lyrics down. Her 1977 version features the mighty bass guitar and the backing vocals of Kenny Edwards, who died in August.

High Lonesome Trio

Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris performing in 1987. "Those Memories of You" is by Pam Tillis.

Great Cover Songs: "Tracks Of My Tears" (1965)

Linda Ronstadt

Mountain Songs: "High Sierra" (1995)

Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, and Dolly Parton. From their Trio II album (1999); Harley Allen's song was also recorded by Ronstadt in 1995.

Perfect Duets: "I'm Blowin' Away" (1975)

Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt, performing in August 1979 at a benefit concert for the family of Little Feat's Lowell George, who died that June at, I was astonished to learn, the Key Bridge Marriott in Roslyn, Virginia. This song was written by Eric Kaz. Both singers recorded it. This is Ronstadt's arrangement. Raitt's, featuring an orchestral track, appeared on her 1975 album "Home Plate."