Linda Ronstadt Back In The U.S.A./ White Rhythm and Blues (Asylum Records, E 45 519, 1978)
Linda Ronstadt How Do I Make You/ Rambler Gambler (Asylum Records, E 46 602, 1980)
Guilty pleasure alert: I have a thing for Linda Ronstadt. I take comfort in the fact that I'm not the only one.
Somehow she sits alone atop the female vocalist section of the rock pantheon.
An interpreter, not a composer, Linda could sing stuff by The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, and J.D. Souther (as she does over these three singles) and make them Linda Ronstadt songs.
She took on a variety of musical genres in her career and never sounded out of place. As one critic noted, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation ... rarest of rarities – a chameleon who can blend into any background yet remain boldly distinctive ... It's an exceptional gift; one shared by few others".
She's a Parkinson's disease sufferer now and having retired from singing she leaves a giant empty but classy space in the musical world.
Forget guilty pleasure - everybody loves Linda. And these songs endure.
Hidden gems: I love her delivery on White Rhythm and Blues, the J.D. Souther song. There's a lovely purity and innocence to her voice.
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