I know it’s hard to believe that a tribute to the songs of Linda Ronstadt, the fabulous singer whose career has been cut short by Parkinson’s disease, could rock, but rock it did at Johnny D’s last week.

Amy Fairchild, Jenny Dee, Susan Cattaneo, Jenee Halstead (l to r)

People danced throughout the show, even, as Jenny Dee noted, to ‘Carmelita’ which is a song about heroin!

Part of the For the Sake of the Song concert series, Songs Linda Taught Us featured four Boston-area singer-songwriters (in alphabetical order):  Susan Cattaneo, Jenny Dee, Amy Fairchild, and Jenee Halstead.

Jenny Dee

Amy Fairchild

Jenee Halstead

Susan Cattaneo

My understanding is that each of the four singers chose the songs on which she would perform as lead singer, with the others singing backup. The songs they chose were among the most beloved of Linda’s career, and covered country, pop, rock, and blues.

Songs Linda Taught Us

During the show, a video presentation assembled by Susan about the songs ran on a screen near the stage. It was fascinating to read the history of the songs, including the name of the writer. I knew, for instance, that Michael Nesmith wrote ‘Different Drum’ (sung by Jenny), but did not know that Roy Orbison wrote ‘Blue Bayou’ (sung by Jenee).

Jenee and Jenny

In many respects, this was a ‘best of’ show. Susan sang lead on ‘Poor Poor Pitiful Me’, ‘Love is a Rose’, ‘Desperado’, ‘Carmelita’, ‘Dark End of the Street’, and ‘That’ll Be the Day’.

Susan

Jenny sang lead on ‘Tumblin Dice’, ‘I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight’, ‘Tell Him’, ‘Different Drum’, and ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’.

Jenny

Amy sang lead on ‘Silver Threads and Golden Needles’, ‘It’s So Easy to Fall in Love’, ‘Tracks of My Tears’, ‘Love Has No Pride’, and ‘When Will I Be Loved’.

Amy

‘Willing’, ‘Just One Look’, ‘You’re No Good’, and ‘Blue Bayou’ were led by Jenee.

Jenee

Each singer has a different vocal style, yet they blended perfectly. I felt that each chose to perform songs that showed those styles to their best advantage.

Songs Linda Taught Us

The band backing the singers, Comanchero, is the ‘house band’ for the Sake of the Song shows. Composed of Greg Moon on drums, Bob Moon on guitar, Sam Margolis on guitar, Andrew Kramer on bass, Jim Levin on percussion, with assistance from Patrick Coman and Dino Cattaneo on guitars, Comanchero is an Americana jam band that I would see again.

Amy with Bob Moon of Comanchero

I do not usually attend tribute shows; if I like the music enough, I see the original musicians. In this case, however, Linda cannot sing any longer. I cannot imagine how painful that is for Linda. I think she would have been honored to hear this fantastic tribute to her songs.