Linda Ronstadt’s Biggest Regret Came From This 1989 Album: “I Didn’t Do Well”

Artists evolve. Even if we think we’ve heard the most stunning, perfect effort from our favorite musician in one year, they are liable to turn around and one-up themselves the next. The very nature of being an artist is to innovate and explore. That affinity can sometimes lead them astray, but when it benefits them, it’s a pretty magical thing. But, because artists are always evolving, looking back can sometimes be a cringe-inducing experience. Like all of us, artists have trouble accepting their younger, less experienced selves. Evolving makes the old versions seem trite and unacceptable. One influential artist who has spoken about this problem is Linda Ronstadt.

The golden-throated vocalist once took aim against a 1989 record, saying her voice wasn’t up to snuff. I’m sure many Ronstadt fans will struggle to see how that’s possible, but learn more about her reasoning below.

The 1989 Album That Linda Ronstadt Regretted

Linda Ronstadt has always been an artist who delivered on stage. She could get her live shows to sound remarkably like her studio recordings, if not better than them. She didn’t always vamp, but when she did, she almost always blew the album versions of her songs out of the water.

Even she recognized this, once speaking about the difference between her album Cry Like a Rainstorm Howl Like The Wind in its recorded state and her live renditions. She gave herself credit where she deserved it, speaking on how her voice got better with time.

“I didn’t know how to sing then,” Ronstadt once said. “I was doing songs that I really didn’t relate to. I didn’t do them as well on the record as I did them on stage after I had them in my mouth for a while, but it’s always like that. I didn’t know what I was doing yet. And I wasn’t good at picking material for myself.”

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Sometimes songs need to seep in before they sound really great. A true artist can use time to their advantage, while others might let things get stale. Linda Ronstadt has belonged to the first group, certainly, one-upping herself many times throughout her career.

It’s not every day that an artist will get so candid about what they perceive as pitfalls throughout their career, making Ronstadt’s comments refreshing. While the impressive numbers behind Cry Like a Rainstorm Howl Like The Wind don’t agree with Ronstadt’s opinion of it, we can’t deny her live vocals will also be stiff competition for her recorded material.

(Photo by Larry Hulst/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)