Peter Lewry - Linda Ronstadt: A Life in Music

LINDA RONSTADT

A Life In Music

By

Peter Lewry

Published in 2010 by

Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

Copyright Peter Lewry 2010

The right of Peter Lewry to be identified as author of this book has been asserted in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyrights Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

For Carole

I am eternally grateful to Andrew Gold, Kenny Edwards, Mike Botts, Tom DeSavia, Earl Poole Ball and John Beland who all agreed to be interviewed for the book.

There were many individuals I would like to thank including Peter Asher, Rich Bailey, Shira Rosenstein, Mark Watson, Clay Eals, Megan Maley, Sean Body and Graeme Milton and to those who I may have unintentionally forgotten please know your help was appreciated.

Thanks to all those who maintain the many internet sites and facebook pages dedicated to Linda Ronstadt for their often unsung efforts.

Last but by no means least, very special thanks go to my wife Carole for her love and support.

Life With Linda

Andrew Gold (2009)

From the Early Seventies, on and off until 1993, I was in Linda Ronstadts band, often playing quite a large role, on stage and on record. Our band did countless tours and spent a huge amount of time together, personally and professionally. Although there were people Linda would call closer friends, I did see a lot of what was going on in her life and with her career, especially in the mellow yet wild 70s. I had the most wonderful time of my youth in those early days of the seventies, and was very spoiled by the huge success I walked into right out of school, all starry eyed and innocent in my early 20s way. I think the enormity of her success in 1974 after Heart Like A Wheel came out was a bit daunting at first anyway, even to her, and we all were pretty much alternating, sometimes hourly, between the euphoria of power, riches and fame, to the extreme stress and tiredness in keeping up with the demands on her from every corner of the earth. She was, for a very long time in the seventies, the most famous female rocker in America. As you may imagine, it was hectic and non-stop, but we were all young and ambitious, with a healthy dose of post 60s party instinct to boot. At the center, however, was of course the music. The music came first always.

Which is where this book fits in nicely. The music is the central player, not the crazy personal details which, in most biographies about musicians, are incomplete, or too complete (Yikes. We did that ??) or just wild conjecture on the part of the journalist, second hand stories, and embellished folk lore made up for the sake of entertainment. Although there are some bits here about personal relationships, incidents and events, there are only just enough to give the proper perspective and setting, and they are mercifully short and mostly accurate as far as I know (or remember). Thank God they left out the whole Pig Stye incident, and doesnt mention my and Lindas torrid and hauntingly brutal sado-machochistic love affair with the bunny and the dagger, her whole Satanic/Hannah-Barbera period, the grizzly cookies eaten out of the garbage pail, or whos boy scout outfit that was, but this is a good thing, and will cost less in legal fees. Mainly, because none of these things happened. (OK, I did admittedly draw knives flying to the cute bunnies she always doodled, ok, ok?? Jeez!) My point being, its usually best to stick to the facts of someones music career, unless you really know the truth about the personal details, and Lindas music is covered quite succinctly and accurately here. Besides, let me write the dirt later...Who needs friends? So, Linda. It was grand, and I loved making music with you, and why are you not in the rock and roll hall of fame? I can rent a tux within the hour...

As she calls me,

Android

Often dismissed by rock historians as a product of the antiseptic Californian country-music scene, an artist who relied on watered-down covers of classic rock n roll and pop standards, this description of Linda Ronstadt couldnt be further from the truth. Throughout a recording career that has covered over forty years she has recorded in a remarkable variety of styles from pure country to pop, light opera to big band standards and new wave to mariachi, often taking risks beyond the reach of many critically acclaimed artists. It would be hard, if not impossible, to find another vocalist who has had a more diversified career. In their press release for the 1993 album Winterlight her record company managed to convey exactly what it was that made Linda Ronstadt such a special artist.

Versatile doesnt begin to describe Linda Ronstadts astounding career a wildly eclectic, devoutly adventurous journey through a myriad of styles and genres. Who else has worked with Philip Glass and Dolly Parton? Aaron Neville and Nelson Riddle? Ronstadts unforgettably gorgeous voice, at once technically dazzling and resonating with deep emotion, has woven a magical path from rock to mariachi, from country to opera, gathering critical and commercial success at every stop along the way. - Elektra Press Release (November 1993)

To understand better Linda Ronstadts eclectic choice of material one needs to look back to her birthplace, the culture in which she was raised, her family history and those that surrounded her.

Tucson is dominated by A Mountain which lies to the southwest of the city although its proper name is Sentinel Peak. The A harks back to the days when students from the University of Arizona whitewashed a giant A onto the side of the mountain and it has become an annual tradition for freshmen to repaint it. However, the history of the peak and the citys name go back much further. When the Spaniards settled in the area in the 1600s the village at the foot of the mountain was known as Stjukshon, which, in Indian language translates to at the foot of the dark mountain. It was pronounced Took Son by the Spaniards and when the Anglos later dropped the k sound it gave the city its current pronunciation of Too-sahn.

Tucson lies to the north and east of the intersection between Interstate 10 and Interstate 19, the latter leading approximately one hours drive down to the Mexican border at Nogales. It is the second largest city in Arizona with a sizeable Hispanic heritage and population. Spanish is a common language and there is a large Mexican influence, especially when it comes to eating with an abundance of Mexican restaurants.

It has a mix of cultures, Indian, Hispanic and Anglo, which all make their own individual mark on the areas local arts scene. You can hear many styles of music, everything from jazz to hip-hop, salsa, a recent nightclub trend, and the Mexican styled mariachi and accordion-flavoured norteo. Mariachi originated in the central Mexican state of Jalisco in the mid-nineteenth century but only became a cultural icon in the 1930s and 40s. Lovers of this style of music had no need to travel to Mexico to listen to mariachi as some of the best examples could be found in and around the Tucson area. In fact there is an annual International Mariachi Conference that brings together some of the best musicians to the city. In contrast norteo has more of a blue-collar appeal, not quite as stylized with more flexibility in the instrumentation. However, they both have a similar repertoire based around various styles including polkas, cancion, ranchera and corrido.