Abandoning California for Nashville,
Linda Ronstadt does take a stab at relatively straight-ahead country on her second album,
Silk Purse. She's changed location and producers --
Elliot Mazer, who'd later be
Neil Young's right-hand man for archival projects, helmed this -- but she hasn't quite thrown herself into the maelstrom of Music City here. Many of the soft, flowery flourishes of
Hand Sown…Home Grown have been traded in for steel guitars and echoing acoustics, a move that definitely reads country, but
Ronstadt's sensibility remains rooted on the West Coast, favoring great emerging songwriters and revived, reworked versions of classics. Only a couple of these are classic country, however -- just
Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues" and
Mel Tillis' "Mental Revenge," which are balanced by
Goffin/
King's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and "I'm Leaving It All Up to You," R&B hits given nice country rearrangements (the latter in particular feels suited to its new barroom rendition). These rearrangements, alongside covers of
Gene Clark &
Bernie Leadon's "He Darked the Sun" and
Paul Siebel's "Louise," suggest that
Ronstadt's sensibility is a bit more cosmopolitan than country, but that's the great thing about
Silk Purse: perhaps she didn't find her voice, not in the way she would a year later on her eponymous record, but this Nashville excursion had a clarifying effect, whittling down the musical excesses and strengthening her aesthetic while winding up a nifty little record in its own right. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine