Post by erik on Jun 24, 2012 13:13:54 GMT -5
In terms of her standing inside the country music realm, the new century had begun rather auspiciously with Linda probably receiving a few royalty checks as the result of her self-penned 1976 country-rock gem "Try Me Again" being covered by her biggest spiritual protégé Trisha Yearwood on Real Live Woman. That album, which peaked at #4 on the C&W album chart and #27 on the Billboard Top 200, demonstrated that Trisha, though she was never going to replace Linda, did know a thing or two about how to make quality albums; and Linda did praise her younger colleague for doing "Try Me Again."
On her own, Linda got back into the business of music exploration in 2002 by participating in the all-star compilation Evangeline Made, which focused on the Cajun music of Louisiana that had a considerable, though shockingly under-documented, effect on country and rock. Linda, who became good friends with the project's producer Ann Savoy, was no stranger to Cajun music; her early backing band Swampwater featured authentic Cajun fiddle player Gib Guilbeau; Chris Darrow, of the Corvettes, also had a background in Cajun music as well as bluegrass; and during the folk era, she was well-acquainted with Doug Kershaw. In this case, however, Linda wasn't going for the wild and crazy side; with Ann, she did quieter Cajun material--“Song Of A Fifteen Year Old Girl” and “Oh, My Dear Little Girl.” Sharing the glory on this album with Linda were John Fogerty, Patty Griffin, Maria McKee, Richard & Linda Thompson, and Rodney Crowell. Though it lost that year's Traditional Folk Grammy to the Doc Watson/David Holt album Legacy, Evangeline Made was nevertheless highly acclaimed. In that same year, she appeared with her good friend and bluegrass mandolin master Sam Bush and his band, both in her hometown of Tucson, and at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, her first and probably only appearance there.
Later that year, Rhino's compilation release The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt made a shockingly good showing on the country album chart, peaking at #19 (#165 pop), rent with most of the big hits Linda had had between 1967 and 1989, plus the title track of 1993's Winter Light. The influence of that music on many of Nashville's best female artists was not lost on the modest Linda, but there was a caveat: she felt that the corporatization of country radio had done away with both the traditionalism she had grown up listening to back home in Arizona, and the progressive sounds she had espoused. In the now-defunct Country Music Magazine's February 2003 edition, she referred to what passed for country music on the radio as "mall crawler music." It probably didn't help her opinion of it when country music's leading female trio the Dixie Chicks got barbecued in the media only a few weeks later because their lead singer engaged in Bushwhacking overseas just nine days before the Iraq war began.
She elaborated more on this in writer Chris Willman's 2005 book Rednecks And Bluenecks, which focused on country musicians' politics, and touched on Linda's 2004 "Dust-Up In The Desert":
"Growing up in Arizona, I heard a lot of country music and obviously have great respect for it. But there isn't country music anymore, really. It's mall crawler music, because there barely exists an agrarian lifestyle. I grew up in it, on the last ten acres of my grandfather's cattle ranch, where our neighbors were all farmers and ranchers. I didn't even have a path to put a bicycle on--I had a pony. You had to have hooves if you wanted to get around in those days. And I have great respect for music that comes out of those agrarian traditions. But really that's not what country music is anymore. Country music is suburb music."
Linda had declared the emerging Americana style to be much more to her liking, citing Gillian Welch, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Lucinda Williams as contemporary favorites of hers. It was also in 2002 that another Americana-type singer came to the forefront--Tift Merritt, with her "old school" debut album Bramble Rose, which was both modern and also reminiscent of what Linda and Emmy had done back in the 1970s.
Placing her money where her mouth was, in 2003 Linda was invited by her friend and longtime bluegrass musician Carl Jackson to participate on the album Livin', Lovin', Losin', a tribute to one of the great vocal harmony teams in country music history, the Louvin Brothers. She and Carl duetted on "New Partner Waltz"; and though that duet got lost amongst the other contributions made by her Trio pals Dolly and Emmy, James Taylor, Allison Krauss, and Terri Clark, the album bucked Nashville's post-9/11 retro-redneck trend to win that year's Grammy for Best Country Album.
Following her 2004 jazz album Humming To Myself, Linda once more teamed up with Ann Savoy, this time for Adieu False Heart, its focus being on extremely rustic Americana styles: Cajun (though only to a point); Celtic (including a few songs by Richard Thompson); bluegrass (Bill Monroe's "The One I Love Is Gone"); and acoustic country/folk, in the form of Julie Miller's "I Can't Get Over You", not to mention the pair's take on "Walk Away Renee." The album didn't appear on the Country Album Chart, and it could only sell well enough to climb to #146 on the Top 200 Album Chart, but it was highly acclaimed, even with the often-depressing nature of the material on hand. It sold extremely well on Internet sites, which may have baffled the notoriously technophobic Tucsonan.
The proceeding six years found her doing only brief tours, and one appearance on Jimmy Webb's 2010 album Just Across The River, where she and Jimmy reworked his 1973 song "All I Know", a Top 10 hit for Art Garfunkel in 1973. In the main, she had turned her political activism, fired up by what happened to her in 2004, towards the issue of illegal immigration and drug cartel violence on the Mexican border--an issue which bought her into conflict with the blood-red neocon politics of her home state thanks to its ultra-controversial "Papers Please" law known as SB 1070.
However, it wasn't like younger folk weren't getting the clue as to who she was as a singer, as could be gauged by young adult country singers Emily West and Katie Armiger, who occasionally did her songs in their shows; and Caitlin Rose, daughter of Taylor Swift's frequent co-writer Liz Rose, had released Own Side Now during the late summer of 2010, and also performed a few of Linda's early songs ("He Darked The Sun"; "Love Has No Pride"; “Faithless Love) in her concerts. Linda also made appearances on albums by David Bromberg (Use Me) and bluegrass favorite Laurie Lewis (Skippin’ And Flyin’) that fall into the American roots category.
It’s not likely that Linda’s opinions about mainstream country music have changed in the nine years since her “mall crawler” comments. And with her retirement due to concerns about her voice, it is equally unlikely that there will be any further collaborations even in the American roots music arena where her last album was made. Still, however, Linda’s influence on the best parts of mainstream and alternative country music are evident in both her generation, and the four generations that have come since. Even if the mainstream media doesn’t appreciate the impact she has had yet, fans can rest assure that her peers do appreciate it, and always will.
On her own, Linda got back into the business of music exploration in 2002 by participating in the all-star compilation Evangeline Made, which focused on the Cajun music of Louisiana that had a considerable, though shockingly under-documented, effect on country and rock. Linda, who became good friends with the project's producer Ann Savoy, was no stranger to Cajun music; her early backing band Swampwater featured authentic Cajun fiddle player Gib Guilbeau; Chris Darrow, of the Corvettes, also had a background in Cajun music as well as bluegrass; and during the folk era, she was well-acquainted with Doug Kershaw. In this case, however, Linda wasn't going for the wild and crazy side; with Ann, she did quieter Cajun material--“Song Of A Fifteen Year Old Girl” and “Oh, My Dear Little Girl.” Sharing the glory on this album with Linda were John Fogerty, Patty Griffin, Maria McKee, Richard & Linda Thompson, and Rodney Crowell. Though it lost that year's Traditional Folk Grammy to the Doc Watson/David Holt album Legacy, Evangeline Made was nevertheless highly acclaimed. In that same year, she appeared with her good friend and bluegrass mandolin master Sam Bush and his band, both in her hometown of Tucson, and at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, her first and probably only appearance there.
Later that year, Rhino's compilation release The Very Best Of Linda Ronstadt made a shockingly good showing on the country album chart, peaking at #19 (#165 pop), rent with most of the big hits Linda had had between 1967 and 1989, plus the title track of 1993's Winter Light. The influence of that music on many of Nashville's best female artists was not lost on the modest Linda, but there was a caveat: she felt that the corporatization of country radio had done away with both the traditionalism she had grown up listening to back home in Arizona, and the progressive sounds she had espoused. In the now-defunct Country Music Magazine's February 2003 edition, she referred to what passed for country music on the radio as "mall crawler music." It probably didn't help her opinion of it when country music's leading female trio the Dixie Chicks got barbecued in the media only a few weeks later because their lead singer engaged in Bushwhacking overseas just nine days before the Iraq war began.
She elaborated more on this in writer Chris Willman's 2005 book Rednecks And Bluenecks, which focused on country musicians' politics, and touched on Linda's 2004 "Dust-Up In The Desert":
"Growing up in Arizona, I heard a lot of country music and obviously have great respect for it. But there isn't country music anymore, really. It's mall crawler music, because there barely exists an agrarian lifestyle. I grew up in it, on the last ten acres of my grandfather's cattle ranch, where our neighbors were all farmers and ranchers. I didn't even have a path to put a bicycle on--I had a pony. You had to have hooves if you wanted to get around in those days. And I have great respect for music that comes out of those agrarian traditions. But really that's not what country music is anymore. Country music is suburb music."
Linda had declared the emerging Americana style to be much more to her liking, citing Gillian Welch, Buddy and Julie Miller, and Lucinda Williams as contemporary favorites of hers. It was also in 2002 that another Americana-type singer came to the forefront--Tift Merritt, with her "old school" debut album Bramble Rose, which was both modern and also reminiscent of what Linda and Emmy had done back in the 1970s.
Placing her money where her mouth was, in 2003 Linda was invited by her friend and longtime bluegrass musician Carl Jackson to participate on the album Livin', Lovin', Losin', a tribute to one of the great vocal harmony teams in country music history, the Louvin Brothers. She and Carl duetted on "New Partner Waltz"; and though that duet got lost amongst the other contributions made by her Trio pals Dolly and Emmy, James Taylor, Allison Krauss, and Terri Clark, the album bucked Nashville's post-9/11 retro-redneck trend to win that year's Grammy for Best Country Album.
Following her 2004 jazz album Humming To Myself, Linda once more teamed up with Ann Savoy, this time for Adieu False Heart, its focus being on extremely rustic Americana styles: Cajun (though only to a point); Celtic (including a few songs by Richard Thompson); bluegrass (Bill Monroe's "The One I Love Is Gone"); and acoustic country/folk, in the form of Julie Miller's "I Can't Get Over You", not to mention the pair's take on "Walk Away Renee." The album didn't appear on the Country Album Chart, and it could only sell well enough to climb to #146 on the Top 200 Album Chart, but it was highly acclaimed, even with the often-depressing nature of the material on hand. It sold extremely well on Internet sites, which may have baffled the notoriously technophobic Tucsonan.
The proceeding six years found her doing only brief tours, and one appearance on Jimmy Webb's 2010 album Just Across The River, where she and Jimmy reworked his 1973 song "All I Know", a Top 10 hit for Art Garfunkel in 1973. In the main, she had turned her political activism, fired up by what happened to her in 2004, towards the issue of illegal immigration and drug cartel violence on the Mexican border--an issue which bought her into conflict with the blood-red neocon politics of her home state thanks to its ultra-controversial "Papers Please" law known as SB 1070.
However, it wasn't like younger folk weren't getting the clue as to who she was as a singer, as could be gauged by young adult country singers Emily West and Katie Armiger, who occasionally did her songs in their shows; and Caitlin Rose, daughter of Taylor Swift's frequent co-writer Liz Rose, had released Own Side Now during the late summer of 2010, and also performed a few of Linda's early songs ("He Darked The Sun"; "Love Has No Pride"; “Faithless Love) in her concerts. Linda also made appearances on albums by David Bromberg (Use Me) and bluegrass favorite Laurie Lewis (Skippin’ And Flyin’) that fall into the American roots category.
It’s not likely that Linda’s opinions about mainstream country music have changed in the nine years since her “mall crawler” comments. And with her retirement due to concerns about her voice, it is equally unlikely that there will be any further collaborations even in the American roots music arena where her last album was made. Still, however, Linda’s influence on the best parts of mainstream and alternative country music are evident in both her generation, and the four generations that have come since. Even if the mainstream media doesn’t appreciate the impact she has had yet, fans can rest assure that her peers do appreciate it, and always will.