Linda Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by LukeA

Ronstadt's career (at least her 70's commercial heyday) is basically one big shtick. Basically every single she released was a cover of a song that was already pretty well known. She had a decent voice, but it was the built-in appeal of the songs themselves and the fact her sexuality was presented/promoted front & center that brought her success. Her contemporaries of that era lean less toward the Stevie Nicks variety and more towards Leif Garrett.

And, full disclosure- her recording of "Different Drum" (with the Stone Poney's, written by Michael Nesmith) is a favorite of mine.

Decent?? Understatement.

"There's really only three female singers in the world: Streisand, Ronstadt and Connie Smith. The rest of us are just pretending." ~ Dolly Parton

[HenleyFan]

Witchy Woman isn't about Linda or Stevie. Since about 2004, Don Henley has been telling the same story at his solo shows when introducting Witchy Woman. He says the song was inspired by a girl named Patty that he knew in LA....she was into herbal remedies and had a lot of plants in her apartment, according to Don. In some versions of the story he talks about how she offered to help "fix his back" (Henley has back problems from singing and drumming at the same time) and like any young man in the early 70s he willing went home with her and got his "fix".

L&M
www.eaglesfans.com

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by CADreaming

Decent?? Understatement.

"There's really only three female singers in the world: Streisand, Ronstadt and Connie Smith. The rest of us are just pretending." ~ Dolly Parton

I've always liked this quote because of the reference to Connie Smith ..most people on here have probably never heard of her but the girl could sing.A one in ten million voice .She really deserves to be in the same Pantheon as her peers Dolly ,Loretta and Tammy.I guess the reason she is not is that she just didn't have the single minded drive that these 3 legends had.

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I've always liked this quote because of the reference to Connie Smith ..most people on here have probably never heard of her but the girl could sing.A one in ten million voice .She really deserves to be in the same Pantheon as her peers Dolly ,Loretta and Tammy.I guess the reason she is not is that she just didn't have the single minded drive that these 3 legends had.

Absolutely. Connie has an amazing voice. Not to get off the topic of Linda, but... One of the reasons for Connie's lack of "stardom" is because she left the business in the early '70's to raise a family and for a while she only did gospel music. She's a regular now on her husband's tv show - Marty Stuart. I've met her a few times and she's super sweet.

[HejiraNYC]

Although I don't hold Ronstadt in the same regard artistically as her peers- who actually write their own material, I think she has had one of the most interesting careers in the history of music- all the while remaining extremely private and out of the public spotlight. So while she may not be capable/willing to write songs, she certainly has the pipes and the versatility to do just about everything- folk, rock, jazz, country, pop, Broadway, Mariachi, standards, Cajun, etc. She is a musical journey(wo)man who has not backed away from taking chances and is a true believer in making music for the sake of artistic expression- not merely just to make a lot of money or achieving fame. I suppose she would still be immensely popular if she just continued on in the vein of covering old pop songs or recording a bajillion albums worth of power ballads with Aaron Neville. But all of her musical experimentation came at a price- she just became too eclectic and she seemed to alienate a little bit more of her fanbase with each new direction. So although she has recorded/released many more albums than Stevie, the results have met with mixed success. But at least Ronstadt has evolved and moved on with her career, whereas Stevie seems stuck in a certain era; Linda is the Blanche to Stevie's Baby Jane Hudson.