Hand Sown Home Grown - Organic Cotton Throw Blanket for Cozy Living Room & Bedroom Decor | Eco-Friendly Farmhouse Style

Though Linda Ronstadt became the biggest female vocalist in rock and was able to fill stadiums and arenas in her mid 70's -mid 80's heyday, her career got off to a surprisingly long and quiet start. Beginning with the Stone Poneys, she appeared on their three albums from 1966-1968, and had a major, if untypical hit with Different Drum in late '67. The group was breaking up by that time and Linda had to finish the third album herself. This revealed a whole new Linda, a singer with a soulful voice and a taste for R&B and Country, very different from the folk of the Stone Poneys. Capitol had really wanted just her anyway and these are her first two solo albums.After psychedelia peaked in '67 and early '68 there was a movement toward new directions. Rock generally got heavier. Others turned towards Country music as an inspiration. These included Bob Dylan, Poco, The Flying Burrito Brothers and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. More traditional country singers Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell became enormously popular and Linda appeared on both of their television shows. The new country-rock scene was centered in L.A. largely centered on the Troubadour folk club where Linda had been popular from the very beginning. Eventually it would become very big with the breakout of Jackson Browne and the Eagles in '72. Before then members of the future Eagles were Linda's backup band.But when these two albums were released the listeners, whether Top 40 or FM Underground were not ready for such a strong country sound and Linda's albums languished: Hand Sown... didn't chart at all and Silk Purse only made it to #103 on the strength of Long Long Time.Linda would have a kind of cult audience until her belated breakout during the 1974 holiday season with You're No Good. I'm happy to say that I had bought Linda's albums since Evergreen, Vol.2 and that these two albums are like old friends. They're both good albums, just a bit too ahead of their time to be chart hits.Hand Sown,Home Grown is a bit more folk than the second album which was recorded in Nashville with country musicians. It has an orchestra on Dylan's Baby You've Been On My Mind, and A Number and a Name, a poignant song by one of her favorite composers, Steve Gillette. The single from the album, Long Way Around was written by old Stone Poneys member Ken Edwards. Other standouts include a soulful version of I'll be you Baby Tonight and the heavy country sound of Break My Mind. In interviews Linda said she wasn't really happy with the second album, Silk Purse. I don't think it has as many memorable songs as the first, but it is still a nice country rock album with a bit more of a blues influence. Her rendition of the Shirelles Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow rocks out with steel guitar and a chorus. Long Long Time with its string arrangement was a bit untypical of the album but was just the type of plaintive country ballad that fit Linda's voice perfectly.The bonus track is interesting: an early 1971 single (not a hit, it peaked at #70) that had never been on an album before. Linda was always on the lookout for new talent to promote from the very beginning and one of her first L.A. discoveries in 1966-67 was The Merry Go Round, a Sunset Strip club band headed by Emitt Rhodes. She helped get them signed by A&M and "You're a Very Lovely Woman" was their first single in the Fall of '67.The band didn't take off, though Emitt Rhodes had an early 70's career as a singer-songwriter. Despite his considerable talent he never rose above cult status. Linda , with slightly changed lyrics makes it into a very dramatic ballad.Australia's Raven label is a high quality back catalog company that does an excellent job with sound and booklets and you can always depend on them. Capitol has always kept a very small catalog and they don't put CD's out if they don't think they'll be really big. Thanks to Raven we have most of early Linda Ronstadt available including the first two Stone Poney's albums (and part of the third). Get them before they go out of print and fetch collector's prices.