Review: Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

The documentary, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, isn’t simply a showcase for the sublime instrument she possessed for more than 40 years, it’s a testament to her musical sensibility and unwavering determination. The tragedy is that Parkinson’s did what record companies never accomplished: derail her career when she could no longer be the singer she (and we) had become accustomed to.

This absorbing film is bookended by current interviews with Ronstadt talking about growing up in a musical family in Arizona and enjoying some music with relatives today. In between, we see the arc of her extraordinary career – from country to rock to popular standards to opera to traditional Mexican tunes. There are some classic performance clips, along with interviews by many of her friends and fellow musicians – J.D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Don Henley, Bonnie Raitt, Karla Bonoff, Peter Asher, John Boylan, and more. (Ironically, one who’s missing is Jimmy Webb, who contributed many songs to the Ronstadt catalogue, including “Adios,” “The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress,” and “Still Within the Sound of My Voice,” which gave the movie its title.)

They make a case not only for her impeccable singing, but her overall musicianship – for her ability to recognize great songs and make them her own. She also had to succeed as a woman in a male-dominated world, which made it all the more remarkable that she convinced the powers-that-be to delve into genres outside the commercial mainstream. But she knew she couldn’t be happy if she didn’t try and, always the perfectionist, she never felt she was good enough.

Considering all that she accomplished – and what more she might have attempted – Ronstadt’s disability is heartbreaking. However, she’s not one to complain. She has channeled some of her creativity into occasional live performances where she does a show-and-tell recounting some of the stories contained in her excellent memoir, Simple Dreams. I had the privilege of doing an on-stage interview with her at one of them three years ago at the Tilles Center at L.I.U. Post.  She was smart, candid, and witty, and with those famous big, brown eyes, still captivating. That’s true of the movie, too. It’s showing at a limited number of theaters – probably not for long – but in this age of streaming is well worth seeing on the big screen.

Here’s a link to the interview: https://www.wfuv.org/content/linda-ronstadt-0