Adieu False Heart

Linda Ronstadt has never received enough credit for her unerring and often bold explorations of different musical cultures, a journey that continues with 2006’s Adieu False Heart, a partnership with Cajun musician and folklorist Ann Savoy. This setting transports her to the American Southeast, bringing out new elements of her musical personality. “Adieu False Heart” and “Parlez-Moi D’amour” highlight the ancient French and Scottish origins of many of these songs, which find beauty and heartache in melodies far removed from rock 'n' roll. At the same time, rough-hewn Cajun waltzes like “Plus Tu Tournes” are connected to Ronstadt’s beloved mariachi music, as well as to the outdoor hippie sing-alongs that defined her early career in the late '60s. Though it contains genetic strands rarely heard by mainstream American audiences, Adieu False Heart is at its core an album of American country and folk music. For all its prettiness and fragility, it also features “The One I Love Is Gone,” a minor-key anthem of despair that could cast a shadow over Hank Williams’ most desolate melodies.