Susan Granger’s review of “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” (Greenwich/CNN Films)
Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s biographical music documentary about Linda Ronstadt is particularly timely because she has been chosen as one of the 2019 Kennedy Center honorees.
“Linda could literally sing anything!” marvels Dolly Parton, admiring her eclecticism.
Narrated by Ronstadt, it chronicles her childhood in Tucson, Arizona, where her father was of Mexican/German descent, and she witnessed racial discrimination and prejudice- hence her 1987 album of traditional Mariachi music: “Canciones de Mi Padre.”
From there, it traces her move to Los Angeles and rise to fame & fortune in the ‘70s, filled with remembrances from friends and colleagues like Parton, Karla Bonoff, Jackson Browne, Cameron Crowe, David Geffen, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt and members of the Eagles, which was formed from Ronstadt’s touring band.
There are television interviews, interspersed with earthy, sexy concert footage, covering folk, pop, country, operetta, the Great American Songbook and rock: “People would think I was trying to remake myself, but I never invented myself in the first place,” she says.
When she tired of pop music, she tackled Gilbert & Sullivan, co-starring with Kevin Kline in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of “The Pirates of Penzance,” later adapted on film.
Singer/songwriter J.D. Souther recalls their beach-house relationship and Ronstadt’s shown singing “My Boyfriend’s Back” at a California Gov. Jerry Brown fund-raiser, back when a politician dating a rock-star made headlines.
Now 73, the 10-time Grammy winner retired from performing in 2009 because of Parkinson’s disease. Still outspoken, when she learned that she would receive the Kennedy Center Honors in December, Ronstadt said she hoped President Trump would not attend, declaring, “I don’t want to be in the same room with him.”
Unfortunately, filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman (“Lovelace,” “The Times of Harvey Milk,” “The Celluloid Closet”) never sit down to candidly discuss Rondstadt’s life with the singer herself. Instead, there are clips and snips but no definitive insight.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice” is a stirring 7. Enjoy!
