Continuing my Deep Dive into the discography of Linda Ronstadt…
I’m going to hop around in the chronology a little bit today to highlight a quartet of albums that found Ronstadt collaborating with other women.
Ronstadt has had a 50+ year friendship and creative partnership with two of the greats, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Early in her career, she had covered their songs and featured them on her records, and the three artists discussed recording a full album together.
Getting back to the albums of 1995, here’s the first one that struck me as something I wish I’d had in my life over the last 30 years.
Wrecking Ball is Emmylou Harris’ 18th studio album and the only one I’ve heard all the way through. I’m more familiar with the country legend through her guest appearances in the work of other artists (she is a particularly welcome presence on Elvis Costello’s The Delivery Man album).
Here’s a lovely track from Elvis Costello’s 2004 album The Delivery Man, which started as a concept album about a quartet of characters in the deep south but ended up as a collection of loosely connected rock songs and ballads.
Ivy was presumably one of the characters in that original narrative, and her presence is felt in the backing vocals of the wonderful Emmylou Harris, who shows up on a couple of tracks. Lucinda Williams sits in on the raucous ‘There’s a Story in Your Voice,’ delivering a wild and passionate performance.
Meet Me In Montauk 