Post by the Scribe on Jun 21, 2021 15:39:57 GMT
aadl.org/node/198919
Parent Issue
Ann Arbor Sun, January 31, 1975
Day
31
Month
January
Year
1975
OCR Text
Linda Rondstadt
At Hill Auditorium
It's a tossup between Bonnie Raitt and Linda Ronstadt, and has been for a couple of years now. I won't say what it is they're competing for - any attempt to label their common style would be embarassing to me and demeaning to them. Whatever they have, however, Linda showed a heaping soulful of it at Hill Auditorium on January 20.
She may have been wearing high-heel boots, but her voice was barefoot, wandering down clover-and-manure strewn lanes and interstates.
Linda Ronstadt is, of course, primarily a ballad singer. It showed heavily in her material - nine out of fifteen numbers were slow and, on the most part, wistful. Which is the keystone to Ms. Ronstadt's style, both as a performer and a singer. She told us how all their equipment and paraphernalia had been ripped off in Cleveland. Their road manager was in the hospital, so Linda's mother took over those responsibilities - the two jobs, mother and RM - are about the same, said Linda. Tell these stories and you've got the perfect set up for bittersweet ballads like "Desperado" and "Keep Me From Blowing Away." Even the uptempo numbers had the same taste, such as the Everly Brothers' oldie "When Will l Be Loved" and the perennial "Silver Threads and Golden Needles." The amazing thing is that Linda has the voice that can sustain us through so many broken daydreams. Many singers cannot really handle slowness, while Ronstadt thrives on it.
Linda does know how to Rock & Roll, too. She closed with "You're No Good" and the classic "Heat Wave." It should have had the audience out of its seats and boogieing; but it didn't, probably because everyone had been warned about drinking and smoking in venerable old Hill, and they were a bit cowed. "Only you can prevent good concerts," as they said. The audience was enthusiastic, if well-behaved, and it was a relief to be spared the ordeal of watching a performance through a haze that would do credit to L.A.
Linda's back-up band, led by Andrew Gold who was the prime mover and arranger on her recent album Heart Like A Wheel, was hardly overpowering, but considering the material it was the perfect band. Dan Dugmore on pedal steel played unobtrusively where most would have stepped all over the singer's shoes. Kenny Edwards played some fine bass, when you could heat it. And Ann Arbor's favorite country jewboy David Bromberg made a surprise appearance (he came to play behind Paul Siebel, who preceeded Linda), and wowed us with fiddle on "Silver Threads" which also featured a twin pedal steel break by Dugmore and Eddie Black. (Linda introduced the song as a country version of "Kung Fu Fighting.") Bromberg also played dobro on "Keep Me From Blowing Away."
To me there were two high points - Linda's version of the Lowell George - Little Feat number "Willn'" had me on the edge of my seat. lt was particularly lush and beautifully paced. And Linda sang "Long, Long Time." That is a highpoint any day of the week. The encore was "Heart Like A Wheel," which was graced on the album by the harmony vocal of Maria Muldaur, and may have suffered by comparison. But the set was well-planned, well-delivered and well-received. lt was really a marvelous party, leading with the notable clock cleaner and tracer of lost persons, Leon Redbone, following with Paul Siebel who sounds the way Dylan would sound if he had near-perfect pitch, and closing with Linda Ronstadt.
If I had to put a label on that category I mentioned at the outset, it would probably be best damn country blues singer in the world. But there's so much more there, and Linda Ronstadt defied labels. She's a gift to us all.
- Justin Arthur Prettyface
Photo: Linda Ross