Linda Ronstadt has put out some masterful albums throughout her career, including Heart Like A Wheel, Simple Dreams, An American Tail and more. But shockingly, Ronstadt admits that of all of her studio albums, she wasn't a fan of any of them.
Videos by Wide Open Country
"I don't like any of them, but there are moments on some records that I like," Ronstadt says in a 2017 interview with The Guardian. "The one with Nelson Riddle; the Trio records I did with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. I made a record with Ann Savoy, the Cajun singer, after I got Parkinson's disease, and I could barely sing. I had to whisper everything, but that was a really successful record for us — artistically successful."
Ronstadt released a total of 28 albums, but she has never gone back and listened to them after they were completed.
"I don't ever listen to my stuff once I've finished it, and I don't really know what's on it," Ronstadt concedes. "I'm not saying it's a bad record, I'm just saying I can't remember it. When I listen to all my old stuff, I tend to be horrified."
Linda Ronstadt And Her Battle With Parkinson's Disease
Ronstadt was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2012, which took away her ability to sing. For Ronstadt, the diagnosis was, perhaps surprisingly, not as devastating as one might imagine.
"Singing was certainly a part of my identity, but it was never the whole thing," Ronstadt concedes. "It was something I did, but I always felt defined more by where I was from, who my parents were, who my family were, and how I interacted with them. Being a successful singer was only a fraction of it."
There is part of her career that Ronstadt misses, but it isn't being center stage.
I" miss harmony singing more than anything," the Arizona native acknowledges. "I especially miss when everybody in my family sings and plays music — when we got together, it was the main thing that bound us. And a lot of my friendships have music at the core — I could call up Emmylou Harris and we would sing together over the phone.
"Now we visit for hours and we have a lot to talk about — kids, gardens, pets, families and what's going on in our lives," she adds. "But music took up such a huge part of that, it's sort of a gaping hole, you know?"
