Following the chart-topping Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt really hit her stride. Her next two albums — 1975’s Prisoner in Disguise and 1976’s Hasten Down the Wind — both went Platinum, making her the first woman to release three straight million-selling albums.

Both records sound great, and find Ronstadt at her most confident and creative vocally, knocking rockers and ballads alike out of the park.

Prisoner in Disguise leaned on the work of established songwriters such as Neil Young, James Taylor, Smokey Robinson, Jimmy Cliff, and Holland-Dozier-Holland. The H-D-H track ‘Heat Wave,’ originally performed by Martha and the Vandellas, became a top five hit.

She also covered Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You,’ and it was her recording Kevin Costner heard when he decided to include the tune in The Bodyguard. Ronstadt’s version splits the difference between Parton’s quiet take and Whitney Houston’s exuberant one.

On Hasten Down the Wind, Ronstadt chose to highlight lesser-known songwriters, recording three songs by Karla Bonoff (whose 1977 debut album I wrote about a few weeks back) and giving the up-and-coming Warren Zevon some exposure on the lovely title track.

The album also included Ronstadt’s first songwriting credits, on the tracks ‘Try Me Again’ and ‘Lo Siento Mi Vida,’ a foray into Spanish-language music that predated her deeper exploration by a decade.