Hand Sown Home Grown – LINDA RONSTADT***

Baby You’ve Been On My Mind/Silver Threads & Golden Needles/Bet No One Ever Hurt This Bad/A Number & A Name/The Only Mama That’ll Walk The Line/The Long Way Around/Break My Mind/I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight/Its About Time/We Need A Lot More Of Jesus/The Dolphins

Hand Sown Home Grown was the solo debut album from American pop vocalist Linda Ronstadt after leaving The Stone Poneys. Her career would take off in a big way in the mid seventies.

“It is her beginning as a solo artist and while it doesn't have the timeless sound of her mid to late 70s classics, still it's very strong effort that shows the potential of young Ronstadt's voice. And that voice itself is the main attraction here full of emotions, incredibly strong yet sometimes tender and subtle. A Number & A Name, The Long Way Around and It's About Time are first class songs that in better times would have been chart toppers. Silver Threads & Golden Needles and Break My Mind showed that Ronstadt was on a way to become new country queen.”

“She never quite caught this much raw energy on a record again, as she splashes through country and folk with a fuzz tone pedal steel and 60s folk rock strings. No masterpiece to be sure, but none of these songs are bad, and she rocks out on Silver Threads & Golden Needles and Break My Mind.”

“Linda Ronstadt's debut album as a solo artist sees her moving away from the more folk oriented music of The Stone Poneys towards the country rock that would bring her massive commercial success in the mid-1970s. But Ronstadt took a long time to fine tune her style and this is a largely unfocused record. You can hear the potential that Linda had, but she’s not quite there yet.”

“While this is not a typical Ronstadt album, nor one recorded when she was really in her prime, it is a very early solo album that shows her potential for cranking out hits, as well as those seemingly effortless and sometimes facile interpretations of other people's songs, showing just how distinctive an artist she was.”

“Ronstadt here does a star turn with other people's songs. She shows here just how versatile and eclectic her approach to some interesting material could be. Linda pulls out all of the stops. This was her first album that really showcased her tremendous abilities.”