Oreos and Love Gone Wrong: A Heart To Heart with Linda Ronstadt

These days they cast Linda Ronstadt's anguish in gold. Heartbreak gives her the Midas touch.

Inspired by a melancholy muse, she continues to produce music that is both staggeringly sad and strong. She doesn't have the tortured genius of Joni or the raspy charm of Bonnie Raitt, but she reigns as the rock queenof love-gone-wrong.

Her primary tool is a voice that can deliver her polished fascination with emotional upheaval. Yet it is smooth without being glossy; vulnerable without being fragile. Like a valentine laser it has an ability to focus directly on the spot where old romances seem to settle.

These days people no longer buy Ronstadt's albums for her picture on the cover—though that's still reason enough. After all, there were a few of her early LPs that were more pleasant to look at than listen to. But ever since Heart Like A Wheel the most important part has been inside the jacket.