Print this Page  World Music CD Reviews Greater Latin America
By Jeff Tamarkin Published September 13, 2005  Canciones de mi
Padre  Jardin Azul/Las Canciones Favorites  One wouldn't blame a
skeptic for expecting that Linda Ronstadt's mid-'80s forays into
traditional Mexican mariachi and ranchera music might be a
little bit hokey. Ronstadt had forged a mega-career for herself
in the pop world, ably but often unadventurously interpreting
the soft-rock compositions of contemporary Southern California
singer-songwriters and sanitizing rock/R&B oldies for the
masses. Then, after a decade and a half of that, she gave it all
up to make three albums of lushly orchestrated traditional pop
standards, arranged by Nelson Riddle, who'd worked with the
likes of Frank Sinatra. That done, she then looked south and
rediscovered her Mexican heritage, deciding it was time to
revisit the songs that had thrilled her father and grandfather.
Ronstadt released no fewer than three Mexican-themed albums in
the late '80s and early '9