A landmark album that went totally unrecognized
Erik North | San Gabriel, CA USA | 07/22/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"During the late 1960s, there was a sudden musical uprising known as country-rock. Acts like Poco, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez were all making albums that helped to reconnect rock and roll with its traditional white country music roots.The year 1969 was pivotal for the genre. The Flying Burrito Brothers (led by Gram Parsons) released their landmark album THE GILDED PALACE OF SIN, which, although a huge flop in '69, is now seen as a landmark album. But another country-rock album from that year went equally unrecognized. That was HAND SOWN, HOME GROWN, the first solo album of ex-Stone Poney lead singer Linda Ronstadt.Although as crude as any of the early albums in the country-rock genre, HAND SOWN shows us a powerful, hippie-type folk-rock singer really willing to explore country music and show it as more than hillbilly redneck noise. Linda's exuberant first version of the standard "Silver Threads And Golden Needles" is a great example of this, enhanced by fuzz-tone steel guitar (!). She also gives us some surprising versions of "The Only Mama That'll Walk The Line" and "Break My Mind", which are both hard-rocking and twangy at the same time. She concedes a quieter folk-rock pose for "The Long Way Around", which became a belated minor hit for her in the winter of 1971.While many acts get a lot of credit for supposedly "starting" country-rock, including the Burritos, Linda Ronstadt was modestly putting her money where her big voice was from the start--and she never bragged. HAND SOWN, HOME GROWN hopefully will be seen as much a landmark country-rock album as those of the Burritos and the Byrds, because Linda eventually went on to outlast them all."
Lovely Interim Effort by An Emerging Superstar!
Barron Laycock | Temple, New Hampshire United States | 07/15/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is a lovely album by Linda Ronstadt recorded in the brief period after she had left the Stone Ponies and before she really burst onto the scene with "Long Long Time". The collection included here are really much more country and even blue grass than she would move to later, but the effect of that clear, sharp voice on all these traditional songs is simply electrifying. I had the opportunity to see her at a small venue in Lenox, Massachusetts called the Music Inn, a country summer place where the performer was up on a covered stage which was more an open platform covered by a roof than anything else, and the audience was sprawled out across an expanse of lawn that made a natural sloping amphitheater. Of course, Linda and the small group she had backing her were simply spellbinding. Here she works her way through a number of great songs, putting her own special style to magical work. From the traditional "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" which she delivers in her quite untraditional way by way of a raucous rock-a-billy style to a thoughtful "Break My Mind", this album showcases Linda uniquely controlled wail of a warbler's voice. This is terrific country work by a performer who was just starting to find her style and form. My favorite song is her interpretation of "The Long Way Around", which foreshadowed her many, many successful efforts to come. This is an album that is essential for any real Linda Ronstadt fan. Enjoy!"
Hand Sown/Home Grown
Zardiw | Palm Springs, Ca USA | 12/07/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Probably one of her best albums. Only Mama that'll Walk The Line for example is excellent, displaying Linda's tremendous vocal range, and it was never even heard on the radio as I recall. I damned near wore the grooves out of this record........z"
