The Commercial Appeal - Go Memphis
Linda Ronstadt albums added to Grammy Hall of Fame
Two career-defining Linda Ronstadt albums have been added to the Grammy Hall of Fame.
The Recording Academy has announced the addition of 29 titles to its Grammy Hall Of Fame, including a diverse range of singles and albums, from Bruce Springsteen’s “Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.” and Patti Smith’s “Horses” to the Beastie Boys’ “Licensed to Ill.”
Ronstadt, the Tucson, Ariz., native who earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammy in 2016, is honored twice in the Class of 2021 – for “Trio,” a 1986 collaboration with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris, and the following year’s “Canciones de Mi Padre,” her first album of traditional Mexican mariachi music.
The stories behind the albums being honored
“Trio” was a platinum smash that topped the Billboard country chart and earned a Grammy for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. It also picked up Album of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards and Vocal Event of the Year and the Country Music Association Awards.
A second “Trio” album followed 12 years later, earning Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for the trio’s version of “After the Gold Rush” by Ronstadt’s former touring partner, Neil Young.
It was Ronstadt’s 10th and last Grammy, not including the Lifetime Achievement Award she received in 2016.
The singer, whose grandfather was born in Mexico, recalled the making of “Canciones de Mi Padre” in October when she was presented with the Legend Award and honored with a sevenminute tribute at the 33rd annual Hispanic Heritage Awards.
“I wanted to record Mexican music from the time I left (Tucson) when I was 18,” she recalled. “I had a hit record, and I asked the record company if I could record in Spanish. They said, ‘No.’”
She kept insisting, though.
“And finally,” she said, “I had enough hit records that I could just tell the record company, ‘Guess what? This is what you’re getting.’”
To the label’s credit, Ronstadt says, “they stepped up and tried to figure out how to sell it. They didn’t have any idea how to market a Mexican record.”
It became the biggest-selling nonEnglish language album in U.S. history, a double-platinum success that won Best Mexican/mexican-american Album at the Grammys.
Titles must be at least 25 years old to be inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, now in its 48th year with 1,142 recordings.