Silk Purse

Linda Ronstadt is well known for the pop-rock tunes she made from the mid-'70s to the '80s, but back in 1970, she was making down-home country music with whiffs of old straw and molasses. Produced by Elliot Mazer—who was recommended to Ronstadt by her friend Janis Joplin—Silk Purse was recorded in Nashville, though its music is an intentional rebuke to the slick styles of Music Row. Ronstadt’s vision better resembles a barnyard sing-along. Even when she jumps into classic songs by Hank Williams (“Lovesick Blues”) and Mel Tillis (“Mental Revenge”), she charges them with the rollicking attitude of The Rolling Stones more than the mannered restraint of Porter Wagoner. “Nobody’s,” “Louise," and “He Dark the Sun” hit on an idyllic balance of country, R&B, and rock. Anyone who thinks of Ronstadt as a corollary to Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell needs to hear this early stage of her career, when she had much more in common with Gram Parsons. If Ronstadt had never released another album after Silk Purse, it would be enough to cement her reputation as a doyenne of California country-rock.