‘Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice’: An Illuminating Profile Of The Trailblazing Songstress  

Aging is unkind. It robs us of our beauty, our skills, and it always ends in death. The last 20 years has seemed like some dire culling of the previous century’s greatest musicians. A select few music documentaries have tried to profile artists as they battle the ravages of time and disease. The new documentary Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice finds the now-73 year old singer, once one of rock’s biggest female artists, now unable to sing.

Equally adept at rock, country, showtunes and folk music, Ronstadt has won 10 Grammys, had multiple hit singles and albums, and is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. What she’s best known for depends on the decade, which is one of the points of the film, which is currently available for rent or purchase on a variety of streaming services. As friend and collaborator Dolly Parton says at the outset, “She could sing literally anything.”

After the obligatory intro of accolades, magazine covers and career milestones, we find Ronstadt contentedly watching a performance of traditional Mexican music. Once a country rock sex symbol in tight fitting bell bottoms and half-cut shirts, she is now matronly and tastefully dressed down. She ponders why people sing, saying, “They sing for many of the same reasons birds sing. They sing for a mate, to claim their territory, or simply to give voice to the delight of being alive in the midst of a beautiful day.”

Ronstadt grew up in Tucson, Arizona. Her mother was an educated Midwestern WASP while her father came from a prosperous Mexican-American family whose nurtured her love of music. As a child she was addicted to the radio, listening to a mix of country, pop, classical music and broadcasts from across the nearby border. “When I was growing up I thought people sang in Spanish and spoke in English,” she says.

She began singing folk music and formed a group called The Stone Ponys, playing the L.A. club circuit alongside The Byrds, The Doors and a young Ry Cooder. Offered a recording contract during the L.A. folk rock boom, Ronstadt quickly learned the rough trade of the music business. Producers turned the simple folk of her band’s first single into orchestral pop against her wishes. Whatever her reservations, it was a hit which perfectly showcased her  talents. She went solo soon after with little prodding.

Ronstadt’s early records put her at the epicenter of Southern California country rock and singer-songwriter circles. Her touring band featured future Eagles members Don Henley and Glenn Frey. Henley speaks with admiration of her abilities as a bandleader and credits her version of “Desperado” with popularizing the song.

By the mid-’70s, Ronstadt’s was a major concert attraction. With her big voice and rocking band she served as a model for future generations of female frontwomen. According to songwriter Karla Bonoff, Ronstadt figured out a way to be “feminine and sexy in this world of men…and use that in the best possible way.” Touring with a gang of male musicians, the singer says she cursed like a truck driver, in emulation of them.

Wrung out physically and creatively from the rigors of the road, Ronstadt decided to do whatever the Hell she wanted at the start of the ’80s and never stopped. While record companies reacted with exasperation, the results were often successful, both artistically and commercially.

Ronstadt performed in various productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s musical The Pirates of Penzance. Next, she recorded an album of American standards, a move that has been copied by numerous pop artists since. Having always cultivated friendships with fellow female artists, she recorded the country album Trio with singers Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Then, Ronstadt paid tribute to her Mexican roots on 1987’s Canciones De Mi Padre. Ironically, few people had ever realized she was Mexican.

Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice never spends too much time on any one album or period, which only highlights what an amazing career and body of work she’s left behind. At the turn of the century, Ronstadt noticed her singing had begun to falter. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Her last performance was in 2009 and she announced her retirement in 2011. Her diagnosis was later changed to progressive supranuclear palsy, a similar degenerative disease.

Like such films as Miss Sharon Jones! and Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is a moving portrait of an artist whose life has been brought to heel against an unbeatable foe. While it doesn’t spend much time dwelling on her health troubles, they frame her story. At the same time, the film is an informative and engaging chronicle about one of the most important female artists of the last 50 years. It ends gracefully, with Ronstadt singing gentle Mexican ballads with her cousin and nephew. Her voice has lost its power but she can still follow the melody. When asked if she enjoys it, she says, “I would enjoy it much more if I could sing it but I can’t let them sing this without me. It’s a family thing.”

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Where to stream Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice