Maps of Music

Silk Purse (1970)

Where the lyrics of Silk Purse take you, and where it was really made.

Ronstadt later said she hated this album, yet it was her first to chart in Australia, Canada and the US.

Key places

Recorded at Cinderella Sound Studios, Nashville (1970)

Recording site Nashville — The album was recorded at Cinderella Sound Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, one of two Nashville studios used for the record. The point is shown at city-center level, not at the studio building itself. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Part of the album completed in San Francisco (1970)

Recording site San Francisco — Ronstadt herself noted that some of the album was also completed in San Francisco, California. The point marks the city, and the source does not name a specific studio or building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Silk Purse: studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt
• Released by Capitol Records on April 13, 1970
• Second solo studio album of Ronstadt's career
• Ten tracks, with country music as the focus
• Includes covers of songs by Hank Williams and Mel Tillis
• Two singles released from the album

Background

• Ronstadt had been a member of the folk group the Stone Poneys
• The Stone Poneys had a top 20 US single with 1967's "Different Drum"
• Kenny Edwards and Bobby Kimmel left the group shortly afterward for a quieter existence
• Capitol Records wanted to keep investing in Ronstadt, which pushed her toward a solo career
• Kimmel had written songs for her to record, so she needed new material
• She drew on the country music catalog she had heard as a child
• Country was the musical focus of her first two solo albums at Capitol: Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969) and Silk Purse

Recording

• Recorded at Cinderella Sound Studios and Woodland Sound Studios, both in Nashville, Tennessee
• Ronstadt noted that part of the album was also completed in San Francisco, California
• Produced by Elliot F. Mazer between January and February 1970
• Mazer was part of Area Code 615, a group of Nashville session musicians who played on the album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Born July 15, 1946 in Tucson, Arizona; American singer across rock, folk, pop, country, and soul.
• In the mid-1960s joined the folk-rock trio the Stone Poneys as lead singer, releasing three albums in 1967–68.
• Solo debut Hand Sown ... Home Grown (1969), described as the first alternative country record by a female recording artist.
• Became the first female "arena class" rock star; top-grossing concert artist of the decade.
• Voted Top Female Pop Singer of the 1970s; "You're No Good" reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Worked with producer Nelson Riddle on the Great American Songbook trilogy What's New, Lush Life, and For Sentimental Reasons.
• Recorded Canciones de Mi Padre (1987), the best-selling non-English-language album in US music history.
• Retired in 2011 after losing the ability to sing; later diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014; Kennedy Center Honoree in 2019.

Formation

• At age 14 formed a folk trio with her brother Peter and sister Gretchen.
• Moved to Los Angeles in 1964 to form a band with Bobby Kimmel.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone's Alec Dubro reviewed the album in the June 25 issue, about three months after release
• Dubro wrote that the voice makes the record, and that her country style had developed considerably since her last album
• Lester Bangs reviewed the album in Penthouse, describing her vocal style as full of passion and vulnerability
• Robert Christgau praised her song choices but said only occasionally did she find Kitty Wells's soul as well as her timbre
• Billboard said she had proven she could go it alone
• Cashbox called it an exceptional LP
• Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album three and a half stars

Reappraisal

• In a 1975 interview with Rolling Stone, Ronstadt said she hated the album and that she could not sing then

Records

• US Billboard 200: number 103 after ten weeks, her first album on that chart
• Canada RPM Top Albums: number 59
• Australia Kent Music Report: number 34, entering the top 40
• "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" charted only in Australia, number 100 on the Kent Music Report
• "Long Long Time": number 25 on the Hot 100 and number 15 on RPM Top Singles, her first charting solo single in the US and Canada

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Ronstadt later told Rolling Stone in 1975 that she hated the album and that Mazer probably did not think it was very good either.
• "Louise", written by Paul Siebel, is about a prostitute.
• "Long Long Time" was a song Ronstadt found from its writer Gary White, who also wrote the original tune "Nobody's".
• "He Darked the Sun" was written by Gene Clark and Bernie Leadon.
• Hank Williams's "Lovesick Blues" and Mel Tillis's "Mental Revenge" were among the country covers on the album.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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