Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Volume III

Greatly Appreciated

LINDA RONSTADT, STONE PONEYS AND FRIENDS, VOLUME III
 
 
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III  is the third and final studio album by The Stone Poneys, released in April 1968.  Singer Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year.  While ostensibly a Stone Poneys album, Vol. III represents a transition and a shift in focus from the first two releases by the band, formed in 1965 as a harmony group with Ronstadt as an occasional soloist, to the singer’s solo career.  All three band members were pictured on the covers of the first two albums, while only Ronstadt appears on this front cover.  The back cover photo shows her among a group of friends and neighbors (including musicologist Charles Seeger and singer-songwriter Tim Buckley) in front of the house on Hart Avenue in Santa Monica, California, that was a communal residence for some of them, including Ronstadt (Seeger and Buckley lived nearby).  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

By the time their third album came out, Kenny Edwards had left the band; and in spite of pressure on Ronstadt from Capitol Records to become a solo act, the Stone Poneys managed to score another fine album, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Volume III.  The album included another Michael Nesmith song, “Some of Shelly’s Blues”, plus “Let’s Get Together” and “Stoney End” – several years before those songs became big hits for the Youngbloods and Barbra Streisand, respectively.  And Linda Ronstadt was already showing her gift for spotting excellent songwriting by including no less than three songs by Tim Buckley, including “Hobo” (which Buckley called “Morning Glory”), which might be my very favorite Linda Ronstadt song of them all. 

 

(October 2013)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021