In 1981, Linda Ronstadt recorded a session for a planned album of standards. Unhappy with the results, she shelved them and got to work on her country rock album Get Closer.

Two years later, she was ready to revisit the idea, and this time she coaxed semi-retired legendary composer Nelson Riddle to arrange and conduct the material. Their collaboration spanned her next three albums: 1983’s What’s New, 1984’s Lush Life, and 1986’s For Sentimental Reasons.

At the time it was viewed as a major gamble for one of the country’s most popular rock singers to turn her attention to songs that hadn’t been listened to regularly for decades.

The record company needn’t have worried. What’s New spent a year and a half on the albums chart, peaking at #3, and sold more than 3 million copies. Ronstadt later said she was proud to have saved these songs from “spending the rest of their lives riding up and down on the elevators.”

And what songs they are! Here’s the first album’s lineup: ‘What’s New?,’ ‘I’ve Got a Crush on You,’ ‘Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry,’ ‘Crazy He Calls Me,’ ‘Someone to Watch Over Me,’ ‘I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You,’ ‘What’ll I Do,’ ‘Lover Man (Oh Where Can You Be?),’ and ‘Goodbye.’

All incredible songs, most of which I knew from my parents’ Frank Sinatra collection. But I recall them owning this album as well, and listening to it reminded me of how familiar I am with every note thanks to its presence in my childhood home.

Lush Life features lesser-known songs, or at least lesser-known to me. For Sentimental Reasons brings back some heavy hitters, including ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,’ ‘My Funny Valentine,’ and ‘But Not For Me.’ Those albums didn’t reach the dizzy heights of What’s New but both went Platinum.

While I’m on the topic of standards, I’m going to jump ahead nearly two decades and mention Ronstadt’s 2004 album Hummin’ To Myself. It was a return to the Great American Songbook, but this time with the backing of a jazz ensemble rather than an orchestra. It’s equally delightful.

For those keeping score at home, through the mid-80s Ronstadt had enjoyed major critical and commercial success in folk, country, rock, opera, and orchestral and jazz standards. She was about to add another genre, and another major achievement, to that list.