Hear Linda Ronstadt's Rare Live 'Blue Bayou'
New 40th anniversary reissue of singer's 'Simple Dreams' includes previously unreleased live recordings
When it was released in 1977, Linda Ronstadt's eighth studio album Simple Dreams
became a multi-week Number One for the singer, spawning multiple hit
singles and going on to sell more than three million copies. On
September 15th, the album will be given a deluxe reissue in recognition
of its 40th anniversary.
In addition to the original sequence of tracks on Simple Dreams,
the reissue includes three previously unreleased live recordings pulled
from a 1980 HBO concert special. One of those live tracks is "Blue
Bayou," which Rolling Stone Country is exclusively premiering
below. The track shows off Ronstadt's remarkable vocal range, as she
shifts from a velvety croon in the verses to a pitch-perfect belt in the
performance's chorus. She's backed by a crack band that includes Ross
Kunkel, Dan Dugmore, Kenny Edwards, Bob Glaub, and Little Feat's Billy
Payne.
Simple Dreams was a sales blockbuster for Ronstadt
in 1977 and 1978, passing the triple-platinum mark within a year and
establishing itself alongside Carole King's Tapestry as one of
the era's highest-selling albums by a solo female. As further evidence
of this, the album gave Ronstadt bragging rights of being the first
artist since the Beatles to have two songs in the Top 5 at the same
time, as "Blue Bayou" and Buddy Holly's "It's So Easy" were slotted into
heavy rotation.
Ronstadt released her debut album Hand Sown... Home Grown in 1969, with 2004's jazz album Hummin' to Myself her
most recent solo collection of new material. She retired from public
performance in 2011, revealing that her Parkinson's disease had made it
difficult for her to sing.
https://soundcloud.com/lindaronstadt
https://soundcloud.com/lindaronstadt
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