Linda Ronstadt will play her first concert at Casino del Sol's AVA and one of her biggest Tucson concerts in years when she takes the stage Friday.
Call it an early birthday present β she turns 61 on July 15 β to her hometown; she now splits her time between her native Tucson and San Francisco, where she has lived since 2005.
Ronstadt's show will dip into several genres β the pop, country and rock that made her a superstar in the 1970s and '80s; the Mexican traditional and folk songs she performs in honor of her heritage; and the timeless Great American Songbook arrangements from Nelson Riddle that she has been performing since the 1990s.
"The Nelson Riddle material is the gift that I mailed to myself into the future so that I wouldn't be stuck on stage doing stuff that I thought was just flat-out inappropriate for me to sing at the age of nearing 61," Ronstadt explained during a phone interview last week from Houston.
"The songs from the Great American Songbook are timeless," she said, noting that they bridge generations. They are relevant when you sing them at age 20, or 30, or nearing 61, she explained.
"Those songs can handle all the editions of myself. There are ways that I can process my experiences and my life at all ages, and they can take the cumulative load of my life experience and so express them eloquently and with the kind of gravitas. . . . Frankly, when you start singing them, you don't want to go back to anything else. They are great vehicles for vocalists."
Ronstadt recorded three albums with Riddle, beginning with "What's New" in 1983. The trilogy, which featured the last arrangements of Riddle's career, sold more than 7 million copies.
She has performed the pop standards live with various orchestras, including a concert with the Houston Symphony last week.
There will be no orchestra for Friday's concert, although Ronstadt says she is a big fan of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and would love to perform with it. Instead, she will be backed by a full band.
Ronstadt has enjoyed one of the most diverse careers in pop music, traversing the landscape from Mexican music to country to rock to folk. Every time we think we've got her pegged, she dives into a new and more interesting project that underlines her fearless versatility in a business that tends to thrive on artists' churning out the same-old, same-old, record after record.
No one can accuse Ronstadt of doing that. In a career that has spanned four decades and nearly 40 albums, she has never bowed to the dictates of sales, awards, corporate pressure or public backlash.
"I have a body of work that I can perform on stage that doesn't depend on having hit after hit," Ronstadt said.
Her latest musical adventure is Cajun folk and pop. Last summer, she and Cajun folk singer Ann Savoy released "Adieu False Heart," a collection of songs that walk a fine line teetering among folk, Cajun, roots and old-time country music.
The disc showed Ronstadt at her finest, and pairing her with Savoy's delicate soprano proved to be an inspired harmonic convergence.
β’ When: 8 p.m. Friday.
β’ Where: Casino del Sol's AVA, 5655 W. Valencia Road.
• Tickets: $25-$65, through casinodelsol.ticketforce.com or by calling 1-877-840-0457.
