16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Linda Ronstadt tribute concert to feature Emmylou Harris, Trisha Yearwood
An all-star lineup of country and rock luminaries is expected to gather in Nashville this summer to honor one of music's most boundary-breaking voices.
Trisha Yearwood, Emmylou Harris, Patti Scialfa, Rodney Crowell and James Taylor are slated to perform in a tribute concert celebrating Linda Ronstadt and the Los Angeles country-rock scene on July 22 at the CMA Theater.
The event pays homage to Ronstadt, whose soaring vocals and genre-defying catalog made her a defining figure of the 1970s country-rock movement.
'Linda Ronstadt is a big reason I wanted to be a singer,' Yearwood said in a statement. 'I'm honored to be a part of celebrating Linda and this incredible era of music that is such an important part of the history of country music.'
The evening will spotlight Ronstadt's enduring influence through performances of her songs and other country-rock classics. It also highlights her deep connections to several of the performers.
Crowell, Harris and Taylor — all award-winning artists in their own right — were key contributors to the genre's rise. Scialfa, a longtime member of Bruce Springsteen 's E Street Band, will also lend her voice to the celebration.
The concert is presented in conjunction with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's exhibition 'Western Edge: The Roots and Reverberations of Los Angeles Country-Rock.'
Ronstadt has not performed publicly since losing her voice to a rare neurological disorder in 2012. Still, her influence remains profound — especially for Yearwood, who commemorated her at the 2019 Kennedy Center Honors with a performance of the 1974 hit 'You're No Good' that moved her husband, Garth Brooks, to tears and earned a standing ovation from Ronstadt.
'To be a part of honoring Linda at the Kennedy Center last night was a lifelong dream fulfilled,' Yearwood later wrote on Instagram. 'Thank you, Linda for teaching me through your life and music to trust myself and follow my instincts. I love you.'
Though Ronstadt spent her early years in Tucson, Ariz. and the Rio Sonora region of Northern Mexico and rose to fame in Los Angeles, she has lived in San Francisco's Sea Cliff neighborhood for the past three decades. To mark her 78th birthday last year, the city's Board of Supervisors officially declared a Linda Ronstadt Day in her honor.
