Stone Poneys
Encyclopedia
The Stone Poneys were a folk-rock trio
formed in Los Angeles
, consisting of Bobby Kimmel
(rhythm guitar
and vocals), Kenny Edwards
(lead guitar
and vocals), and Linda Ronstadt
(vocals). Their recordings include Linda Ronstadt's first hit song, a cover of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum
". Even at this early stage, Ronstadt was already showcasing her highly expressive performance of an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians. Additionally, many of her songs, including "Different Drum" were written by male songwriters and had minimal lyric changes, allowing Linda Ronstadt to toy with gender roles that were in ferment in the 1960s and 1970s.
As a testament to enduring interest in the trio, the band's three albums, The Stone Poneys
and Evergreen, Volume 2
and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
, were released together as single CDs for the first time in the 90s in the US (a full 30 years after the music was recorded), with the first two albums reissued in Australia in 2008. Four additional songs from the third album could also be found on the Australian reissue.
in 1960 while performing gigs in and around Tucson, Arizona
with her older brother Peter and older sister Susie (under the name "The Three Ronstadts", among others). The three Ronstadts joined with Kimmel and a local banjo player named Richard Saltus, performing locally as "The New Union Ramblers". Kimmel was approximately five years older than Linda and was impressed with the strong voice and enthusiasm of the precocious fourteen-year-old. He relocated to southern California in 1961 and wrote regularly to cajole Linda into joining him throughout her high school years. Kimmel had already met and befriended Kenny Edwards shortly before Linda's arrival in L.A., and they had started writing folk-rock songs together.
, Linda Ronstadt decided to move to the Los Angeles area in December 1964 to join Bobby Kimmel and form a band
. Ronstadt described Kimmel's vision of the band: "It was going to be five people. We had an electric autoharp
and a girl singer, and we thought we were unique in the world. And it turned out the Jefferson Airplane and the Lovin' Spoonful
had beaten us." The group trimmed down to a trio that called themselves The Stone Poneys. Their misspelled name came from Delta Blues singer Charlie Patton
's 1929 song "The Stone Pony Blues" (also known as "Pony Blues").
The band was discovered by a couple of music industry executives while rehearsing at a soul food
restaurant called Olivia's which was located in Ocean Park, a community between Venice Beach and Santa Monica
that was famous for its food and clientele, including The Doors
. In 1965, they recorded the Johnny Otis
song "So Fine" and a few others; Mike Curb
produced the sessions and at that time was working for Mercury
. However, the record company wanted them to change the group's name to "The Signets" and sing surf music
, which the trio chose not to do.
Instead, The Stone Poneys became a leading attraction on the Los Angeles club circuit, with Ronstadt usually performing on stage in a miniskirt and bare feet. They worked intimate clubs like The Troubadour in Hollywood, where they were opening for such talent as Oscar Brown Jr.; The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach, where they often appeared with the Chambers Brothers
; and The Bitter End
in Greenwich Village
.
At The Troubadour one night, the band's (and Ronstadt's) first manager Herb Cohen
told Kimmel in front of Ronstadt: "Well, I can get your chick singer recorded, but I don't know about the rest of the group". Linda Ronstadt called this "the beginning of the end", although this occurred even before they were signed to Capitol. But it was Linda Ronstadt who insisted that she would not record without the band. The Stone Poneys broke up briefly in this time period, and Cohen tried to connect Ronstadt with Frank Zappa
to make a demo, and also with Jack Nitzsche
, but nothing ever materialized. (She and Zappa – who were both being managed by Cohen in this time period – would later make a TV commercial together).
(also known as Nik Venet) – also at the Troubadour – who signed the band to Capitol Records
in the summer of 1966. Ronstadt recalls of the signing: "Capitol wanted me as a solo, but Nick convinced them I wasn't ready, that I would develop. It was true." In a late 1966 article in Billboard, Venet discussed the formation of a new record label under Capitol
called FolkWorld specifically to promote folk-rock artists. Although the label was never consummated, The Stone Poneys became the lead act in the stable of folk-rock performers that Venet was signing and producing in this time period.
The three album
s by The Stone Poneys were produced
by Nick Venet
. The band's original songs were credited to Bob Kimmel and Kenny Edwards, although subsequent CD reissues removed Edwards' name from most of the credits. BMI's website now credits all original Kimmel-Edwards songs to Kimmel alone, resulting in "Back Home" being Edwards's lone songwriting credit with the Stone Poneys.
The first album, simply called The Stone Poneys
was more folk than rock and featured relatively few lead vocals by Ronstadt; it received little notice. The band again broke up briefly between the first two albums; but, as related by Kenny Edwards, Nick Venet told the band: "'We can make another record, we can make this happen. If we're going to do anything with this, we gotta make something that sounds commercial and get on the radio."
, the songs were in more of a rock vein; and Linda was moved firmly into the lead vocalist position, with only occasional harmony vocals. The album includes the band's only hit song, "Different Drum
". The original recording by The Stone Poneys of "Different Drum" was quite similar to the recorded version by The Greenbriar Boys
from their 1966 album Better Late than Never!; but as Kenny Edwards recalls: "That's when Nik Venet sort of took an executive position and went, 'This could be a hit song, and we need to sort of have an arranger
arrange it.' So none of us actually played on the record version of that." (A live performance of "Different Drum" in the earlier style survives though). The original album version of "Different Drum" from 1967 had a slightly longer run time (2:46) from the single edit (2:35), owing to a repeat of the harpsichord break in the middle of the song. All versions of the song reissued after then have been the single edit although listed with the longer run time.
This was not the only instance of the male band members being pushed out of the recording studio. Ironically, one of the few songs on the second album to feature harmony vocals, "Back on the Street Again" was a duet by Linda Ronstadt and songwriter Steve Gillette (though Linda's voice was clearly on top); Gillette remembers from the session: "[T]here was a scuffle and some noise just outside the door. When we opened it, there was a sad and for some, tearful scene in which it became clear that Kenny [Edwards] and Bobby [Kimmel] had not been notified of the session, and had heard about it indirectly and showed up full of anger at the betrayal. Capitol really did try to break the group up".
The very success of "Different Drum" spelled the effective end of The Stone Poneys as a band: Almost immediately, they started to become known as "Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys". Also, unlike the other 45's, which had been released solely under the name of the band, the "Different Drum" single also included in small letters: "Featuring Linda Ronstadt". As Edwards recalls: "From the record company's point of view, immediately they wanted to push Linda as a solo artist. And frankly, Linda's taste in songs was really growing away from what Bobby was writing.... So there was a spontaneous growth toward her being a solo artist."
Consistent club dates throughout the United States to support the second album followed. Ronstadt remembers opening for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Cafe Au Go Go
in Greenwich Village
as one of her worst experiences with the band: "Here we were rejected by the hippest element in New York
as lame. We broke up right after that. We couldn't bear to look at each other."
. After "Different Drum" hit the charts, Bob Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt rounded up some more musicians, and the reformed Stone Poneys began touring with the Doors
. Doors frontman Jim Morrison
didn't endear himself to Ronstadt; she recalled: "We thought they were a good band, but we didn't like the singer". After this tour, Kimmel too exited the band.
Linda Ronstadt gamely moved forward and, effectively a solo artist already, started taking control of her career. She gathered more sophisticated material for the new album, including three songs by Tim Buckley
that would become standout cuts on that album. "Tim used to live in a house that I lived in too, and we both used to move in and out ... that is, we stayed there alternately. It was the house he wrote about in 'Morning Glory,' which I call 'The Hobo'. That was the 'fleeting house.'" Buckley was among those in the group photograph that appeared on the back cover of the third album.
Although their final album still appears to be in the name of the band, the album name, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
was purposefully vague, without a specific artist's name. Even the two singles from the album were released under different names, though Linda Ronstadt now had the burden of the Capitol recording contract: "See, The [Stone] Poneys were taken off the books after the second album. Since it was a hit, they made royalties off it. But I didn't. I paid all by myself for the third album, which was expensive, and it put me severely in the red by the time I started recording my first solo album."
and Reese Witherspoon
in the guitar
and autoharp
, respectively, for their work in the 2005 Johnny Cash
/June Carter Cash
biopic film Walk the Line
. By November 1968, a different group of musicians was billing themselves as the Stone Poneys; besides Ronstadt, they were guitarist John Forsha – who was also a session player on the band's first two albums – drummer John Ware, bassist John Keski, steel guitarist Herb Steiner, and drummer Bill Martin
.
Purists might contend that these Stone Poneys are not the real band, but only backing musicians for Linda Ronstadt; however, they were still being billed as Stone Poneys, and many of the musicians still view themselves as "ex-Stone Poneys". Shep Cooke fondly remembers his time with the band: "We rehearsed like crazy, finished the third Stone Poney album, toured the entire country for 2½ months, played on Joey Bishop
's and Johnny Carson's TV shows*, went crazy for lack of sleep, and parted company (after the last gig
in late 1968) reasonably good friends but a little disillusioned about 'the big time'."
(*There was never a 'Tonight Show' Stone Poneys appearance aired. Linda first appeared on the late night talk show in 1969. Her second appearance wasn't until 1983.)
s were written
by Bob Kimmel and Kenny Edwards. Under the guidance of producer Nik Venet and Capitol
, the group recorded their first album in the fall of 1966, The Stone Poneys
, which was released in January 1967. The album is notable for its precise strong-voiced harmony vocals. The disc's one and only single release "Sweet Summer Blue And Gold" received no airplay and failed to chart anywhere. (The first album is now mainly known by the name of the 1975 reissue, The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt).
The second album, Evergreen, Volume 2
was released in June 1967; on this album, Linda Ronstadt sang lead vocals on almost all songs. The exception was the title track, which has a psychedelic rock
feel; Kenny Edwards was the vocalist on "Part One", while "Part Two" was an instrumental that featured fine sitar
work (also by Edwards).
The band hit pay dirt with Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum
" (written and copyrighted in 1965 prior to Nesmith joining The Monkees
), the second 45 (following "One for One") from the new album. The band's version of "Different Drum" hit the Billboard Pop Chart on November 11, 1967 and stayed in the Hot 100 for 17 weeks, getting as high as #13; the song also reached #12 on the Cash Box survey. The song has been a staple on oldies
radio ever since - 43 years ago - and remains one of Linda Ronstadt's most popular recordings. Its parent record slid up Billboard's main album chart to #100 and lasted for a respectable 15 weeks on that chart.
Their third album was titled Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
(released in April 1968); at this point, Capitol was promoting Linda Ronstadt rather than the band, and only Linda's picture was on the cover. Like its predecessor, the album had two singles: "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water" b/w "Carnival Bear" (released under the name Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys) which stalled at #93 on the Hot 100
; and "Some of Shelly's Blues" b/w "Hobo" (released under the name Stone Poneys, Featuring Linda Ronstadt) which, like the album, did not chart. "Some of Shelly's Blues" was another Mike Nesmith song; and the album ended with the Laura Nyro
song, "Stoney End", which turned out to have been aptly named (although the song was not written for The Stone Poneys).
pulled out two of the recordings he had produced back in 1965, "So Fine" and "Everybody Has His Own Ideas", and decided to release them in 1968 as a 45 on his label Sidewalk
, which was a Capitol subsidiary. The single was put out without the knowledge of Capitol
– or Mercury
either, for that matter, who had paid for the recording session. Capitol record company executives were understandably furious, and the single was immediately pulled from the market. Thus, this disk has become one of the rarest Linda Ronstadt collectables, bringing as much as $144 (in a 2007 eBay
auction).
record label licensed several Stone Poneys tracks from their Capitol albums. Five of these songs were included as Side 2 on a dual compilation album called Back on the Street Again (catalog number SPC-3245), with Side 1 consisting of five songs by David Clayton-Thomas
that are taken from solo albums that he was recording while serving as the lead singer for Blood, Sweat and Tears. Other than the title song and "Different Drum", the Stone Poneys songs on this album are relatively obscure tracks that have hardly appeared at all on Ronstadt's compilation albums over the years: "Song About the Rain", "I've Got to Know" (also known as "I'd Like to Know") and "New Hard Times".
Apparently somewhat later, Pickwick released Stoney End (catalog number SPC-3298) under the name Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys. The only song included on both of the Pickwick albums is "Different Drum"; the other tracks on this album are mostly familiar songs like "One for One" and "Some of Shelly's Blues", as well as their recording of the 1960s classic "Let's Get Together". (The album was released on the heels of the successful reissue of the version by The Youngbloods
in 1969).
In 1974, prior to the release of Heart Like A Wheel
, Capitol issued a Linda Ronstadt compilation titled Different Drum
, which featured five Stone Poney tracks and five songs from Ronstadt's first three solo albums. Aside from the title track, the four Stone Poneys tracks were remixed tracks from the third Stone Poneys' album, all featuring Ronstadt solo: "Hobo," "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water," "Some Of Shelly's Blues," and "Stoney End."
Eight years after the release of the band's first album (in March 1975), it was reissued by Capitol
under the name The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt, as a result of the multi-platinum success Linda Ronstadt
had in 1974-75 as a solo artist with the #1 album Heart Like A Wheel
. The song listing in the reissue highlighted Ronstadt's three solo performances (she also sang solo on one verse in a fourth song that was not so identified). As a result, the largely unknown first album by The Stone Poneys was more widely available in the 1970s and 1980s than the subsequent albums that featured the band's more familiar songs.
In 1995, Capitol briefly issued the three Stone Poneys albums as individual CD releases. These releases were removed from the catalog within a few years.
In 2008, the Australia
n label Raven
released The Stone Poneys, a 27-track "two-fer" CD featuring the first two Stone Poneys albums plus four tracks from their third album.
Linda Ronstadt has claimed dissatifaction with the arrangements of the three Stone Poneys albums many times over the years, but Capitol
has continually made money through reissues of the early material in numerous configurations. Also, in addition to their hit song "Different Drum
", several of the other Stone Poneys tracks have been featured in many of Linda Ronstadt's compilation albums over the years, such as "Hobo", "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Stoney End".
that helped launch the careers of Southside Johnny
, Jon Bon Jovi
, and others – The Stone Pony
in Asbury Park, New Jersey
– was founded in February 1974, nine months before Linda Ronstadt
's major breakthrough album Heart Like A Wheel
was released. Although this was many years after the Stone Poneys hit "Different Drum
" was on the charts, Ronstadt's Top 20 hit version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles
" was released in the same time period. Whether or not the naming of the nightclub is related to this band is uncertain; the history of the nightclub as related on their website states that the name came to one of the founding owners in a dream.
(Re-Issue 45s)
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...
formed in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, consisting of Bobby Kimmel
Bobby Kimmel
Bobby Kimmel lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a musician and songwriter who currently performs with the acoustic folk group, BK Special. He has been recording and performing in concert for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Stone Poneys, along with Linda Ronstadt and Kenny Edwards.Bobby...
(rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
and vocals), Kenny Edwards
Kenny Edwards
Kenny Edwards was an American singer/songwriter. He was a founding member of The Stone Poneys and a long-time collaborator with both Linda Ronstadt and Karla Bonoff.-Biography:...
(lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and vocals), and Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
(vocals). Their recordings include Linda Ronstadt's first hit song, a cover of Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum
Different Drum
"Different Drum" is a 1966 song written by Mike Nesmith and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense...
". Even at this early stage, Ronstadt was already showcasing her highly expressive performance of an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians. Additionally, many of her songs, including "Different Drum" were written by male songwriters and had minimal lyric changes, allowing Linda Ronstadt to toy with gender roles that were in ferment in the 1960s and 1970s.
As a testament to enduring interest in the trio, the band's three albums, The Stone Poneys
The Stone Poneys (album)
The Stone Poneys is the debut studio album by the Stone Poneys; other than an early single of "So Fine" that was produced by Mike Curb in 1965, this album marks the first official recordings by Linda Ronstadt...
and Evergreen, Volume 2
Evergreen, Volume 2
Evergreen, Volume 2 is the second album from the Stone Poneys that was released five months after The Stone Poneys. The volume number is a reference to this being the band's second album.-Release Data:...
and Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III is the third and final album by The Stone Poneys. Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year. The volume number is a reference to this being the third album by the band, though with a Roman numeral rather than the Arabic...
, were released together as single CDs for the first time in the 90s in the US (a full 30 years after the music was recorded), with the first two albums reissued in Australia in 2008. Four additional songs from the third album could also be found on the Australian reissue.
Early Meetings
Linda Ronstadt first met Bobby KimmelBobby Kimmel
Bobby Kimmel lives in Tucson, Arizona and is a musician and songwriter who currently performs with the acoustic folk group, BK Special. He has been recording and performing in concert for over 40 years and was a founding member of the Stone Poneys, along with Linda Ronstadt and Kenny Edwards.Bobby...
in 1960 while performing gigs in and around Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
with her older brother Peter and older sister Susie (under the name "The Three Ronstadts", among others). The three Ronstadts joined with Kimmel and a local banjo player named Richard Saltus, performing locally as "The New Union Ramblers". Kimmel was approximately five years older than Linda and was impressed with the strong voice and enthusiasm of the precocious fourteen-year-old. He relocated to southern California in 1961 and wrote regularly to cajole Linda into joining him throughout her high school years. Kimmel had already met and befriended Kenny Edwards shortly before Linda's arrival in L.A., and they had started writing folk-rock songs together.
Making The Band
After dropping out of Tucson's Catalina High School, and completing a semester at the University Of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
, Linda Ronstadt decided to move to the Los Angeles area in December 1964 to join Bobby Kimmel and form a band
Band (music)
In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...
. Ronstadt described Kimmel's vision of the band: "It was going to be five people. We had an electric autoharp
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
and a girl singer, and we thought we were unique in the world. And it turned out the Jefferson Airplane and the Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
had beaten us." The group trimmed down to a trio that called themselves The Stone Poneys. Their misspelled name came from Delta Blues singer Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man...
's 1929 song "The Stone Pony Blues" (also known as "Pony Blues").
The band was discovered by a couple of music industry executives while rehearsing at a soul food
Soul food
Soul food cuisine consists of a selection of foods traditional in the cuisine of African Americans. It is closely related to the cuisine of the Southern United States...
restaurant called Olivia's which was located in Ocean Park, a community between Venice Beach and Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
that was famous for its food and clientele, including The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. In 1965, they recorded the Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis
Johnny Otis is an American singer, musician, talent scout, disc jockey, composer, arranger, recording artist, record producer, vibraphonist, drummer, percussionist, bandleader, and impresario.He is commonly referred to as The Godfather Of Rhythm And Blues.-Personal life:Otis, the son of Alexander...
song "So Fine" and a few others; Mike Curb
Mike Curb
Michael Curb is an American musician, record company executive, NASCAR and IRL race car owner. A Republican, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr...
produced the sessions and at that time was working for Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. However, the record company wanted them to change the group's name to "The Signets" and sing surf music
Surf music
Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...
, which the trio chose not to do.
Instead, The Stone Poneys became a leading attraction on the Los Angeles club circuit, with Ronstadt usually performing on stage in a miniskirt and bare feet. They worked intimate clubs like The Troubadour in Hollywood, where they were opening for such talent as Oscar Brown Jr.; The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach, where they often appeared with the Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers
The Chambers Brothers is a soul-music group, best known for its 1968 hit record, the 11-minute long song "Time Has Come Today". The group was part of the wave of new music that integrated American blues and gospel traditions with modern psychedelic and rock elements, spawning a heady mix...
; and The Bitter End
The Bitter End
The Bitter End is a nightclub in New York City's Greenwich Village. It opened its doors in 1961 at 147 Bleecker Street under the auspices of owner Fred Weintraub. The club changed its name to The Other End during the 1970s...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
.
At The Troubadour one night, the band's (and Ronstadt's) first manager Herb Cohen
Herb Cohen
Herbert "Herb" Cohen was an American personal manager, record company executive, and music publisher, best known as the manager of Frank Zappa, Tom Waits, and many other Los Angeles-based musicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Life and career:Cohen was born in New York...
told Kimmel in front of Ronstadt: "Well, I can get your chick singer recorded, but I don't know about the rest of the group". Linda Ronstadt called this "the beginning of the end", although this occurred even before they were signed to Capitol. But it was Linda Ronstadt who insisted that she would not record without the band. The Stone Poneys broke up briefly in this time period, and Cohen tried to connect Ronstadt with Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
to make a demo, and also with Jack Nitzsche
Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...
, but nothing ever materialized. (She and Zappa – who were both being managed by Cohen in this time period – would later make a TV commercial together).
The Stone Poneys Go On Record
After reforming, Cohen eventually introduced the Stone Poneys to the late Nick VenetNick Venet
Nick Venet was an American record producer who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz...
(also known as Nik Venet) – also at the Troubadour – who signed the band to Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
in the summer of 1966. Ronstadt recalls of the signing: "Capitol wanted me as a solo, but Nick convinced them I wasn't ready, that I would develop. It was true." In a late 1966 article in Billboard, Venet discussed the formation of a new record label under Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
called FolkWorld specifically to promote folk-rock artists. Although the label was never consummated, The Stone Poneys became the lead act in the stable of folk-rock performers that Venet was signing and producing in this time period.
The three album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s by The Stone Poneys were produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Nick Venet
Nick Venet
Nick Venet was an American record producer who began his career at age 19 with World Pacific Jazz...
. The band's original songs were credited to Bob Kimmel and Kenny Edwards, although subsequent CD reissues removed Edwards' name from most of the credits. BMI's website now credits all original Kimmel-Edwards songs to Kimmel alone, resulting in "Back Home" being Edwards's lone songwriting credit with the Stone Poneys.
The first album, simply called The Stone Poneys
The Stone Poneys (album)
The Stone Poneys is the debut studio album by the Stone Poneys; other than an early single of "So Fine" that was produced by Mike Curb in 1965, this album marks the first official recordings by Linda Ronstadt...
was more folk than rock and featured relatively few lead vocals by Ronstadt; it received little notice. The band again broke up briefly between the first two albums; but, as related by Kenny Edwards, Nick Venet told the band: "'We can make another record, we can make this happen. If we're going to do anything with this, we gotta make something that sounds commercial and get on the radio."
Hit Song and Further Stresses
For the second album, Evergreen, Volume 2Evergreen, Volume 2
Evergreen, Volume 2 is the second album from the Stone Poneys that was released five months after The Stone Poneys. The volume number is a reference to this being the band's second album.-Release Data:...
, the songs were in more of a rock vein; and Linda was moved firmly into the lead vocalist position, with only occasional harmony vocals. The album includes the band's only hit song, "Different Drum
Different Drum
"Different Drum" is a 1966 song written by Mike Nesmith and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense...
". The original recording by The Stone Poneys of "Different Drum" was quite similar to the recorded version by The Greenbriar Boys
The Greenbriar Boys
The Greenbriar Boys were a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New York's Washington Square Park. Along with the New Lost City Ramblers, their urban traditional country sound inspired a generation of musicians and fans.-Biography:In 1959,...
from their 1966 album Better Late than Never!; but as Kenny Edwards recalls: "That's when Nik Venet sort of took an executive position and went, 'This could be a hit song, and we need to sort of have an arranger
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
arrange it.' So none of us actually played on the record version of that." (A live performance of "Different Drum" in the earlier style survives though). The original album version of "Different Drum" from 1967 had a slightly longer run time (2:46) from the single edit (2:35), owing to a repeat of the harpsichord break in the middle of the song. All versions of the song reissued after then have been the single edit although listed with the longer run time.
This was not the only instance of the male band members being pushed out of the recording studio. Ironically, one of the few songs on the second album to feature harmony vocals, "Back on the Street Again" was a duet by Linda Ronstadt and songwriter Steve Gillette (though Linda's voice was clearly on top); Gillette remembers from the session: "[T]here was a scuffle and some noise just outside the door. When we opened it, there was a sad and for some, tearful scene in which it became clear that Kenny [Edwards] and Bobby [Kimmel] had not been notified of the session, and had heard about it indirectly and showed up full of anger at the betrayal. Capitol really did try to break the group up".
The very success of "Different Drum" spelled the effective end of The Stone Poneys as a band: Almost immediately, they started to become known as "Linda Ronstadt and The Stone Poneys". Also, unlike the other 45's, which had been released solely under the name of the band, the "Different Drum" single also included in small letters: "Featuring Linda Ronstadt". As Edwards recalls: "From the record company's point of view, immediately they wanted to push Linda as a solo artist. And frankly, Linda's taste in songs was really growing away from what Bobby was writing.... So there was a spontaneous growth toward her being a solo artist."
Consistent club dates throughout the United States to support the second album followed. Ronstadt remembers opening for the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Cafe Au Go Go
Cafe Au Go Go
The Cafe au Go Go was a Greenwich Village night club located in the basement of 152 Bleecker Street. The club featured many well known musical groups, folksingers and comedy acts between the opening in February 1964 until closing in October 1969. Originally owned by Howard Solomon who sold the club...
in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
as one of her worst experiences with the band: "Here we were rejected by the hippest element in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
as lame. We broke up right after that. We couldn't bear to look at each other."
Reluctant Emergence of a Star
During work on the band's third album, in early 1968, Kenny Edwards departed for IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. After "Different Drum" hit the charts, Bob Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt rounded up some more musicians, and the reformed Stone Poneys began touring with the Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. Doors frontman Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison was an American musician, singer, and poet, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band The Doors...
didn't endear himself to Ronstadt; she recalled: "We thought they were a good band, but we didn't like the singer". After this tour, Kimmel too exited the band.
Linda Ronstadt gamely moved forward and, effectively a solo artist already, started taking control of her career. She gathered more sophisticated material for the new album, including three songs by Tim Buckley
Tim Buckley
Timothy Charles Buckley III was an American vocalist, and musician. His music and style changed considerably through the years; his first album was mostly folk oriented, but over time his music incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, avant-garde and an evolving "voice as instrument," sound...
that would become standout cuts on that album. "Tim used to live in a house that I lived in too, and we both used to move in and out ... that is, we stayed there alternately. It was the house he wrote about in 'Morning Glory,' which I call 'The Hobo'. That was the 'fleeting house.'" Buckley was among those in the group photograph that appeared on the back cover of the third album.
Although their final album still appears to be in the name of the band, the album name, Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III is the third and final album by The Stone Poneys. Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year. The volume number is a reference to this being the third album by the band, though with a Roman numeral rather than the Arabic...
was purposefully vague, without a specific artist's name. Even the two singles from the album were released under different names, though Linda Ronstadt now had the burden of the Capitol recording contract: "See, The [Stone] Poneys were taken off the books after the second album. Since it was a hit, they made royalties off it. But I didn't. I paid all by myself for the third album, which was expensive, and it put me severely in the red by the time I started recording my first solo album."
Later Incarnations of The Stone Poneys
By late 1967, Linda Ronstadt began recruiting musicians to assist in the studio and also on the road. One of the first was an old friend from Tucson, Shep Cooke. He had already turned down Ronstadt's invitation to join Stone Poneys twice (in 1966 and also in early 1967); when she asked him again in late 1967: "Something told me I'd better not decline a third time. 'Different Drum' was climbing up the charts, and I couldn't refuse. So I joined the Stone Poneys in November 1967." Another latter-day member of Stone Poneys was Kit Alderson, who would later help train Joaquin PhoenixJoaquin Phoenix
Joaquin Rafael Phoenix , formerly credited as Leaf Phoenix, is an American film actor. He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his family returned to the continental United States four years later...
and Reese Witherspoon
Reese Witherspoon
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon , better known as Reese Witherspoon, is an American actress and film producer. Witherspoon landed her first feature role as the female lead in the film The Man in the Moon in 1991; later that year she made her television acting debut, in the cable movie Wildflower...
in the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and autoharp
Autoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
, respectively, for their work in the 2005 Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
/June Carter Cash
June Carter Cash
Valerie June Carter Cash was an American singer, dancer, songwriter, actress, comedienne and author who was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash...
biopic film Walk the Line
Walk the Line
Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold and based on the early life and career of country music artist Johnny Cash...
. By November 1968, a different group of musicians was billing themselves as the Stone Poneys; besides Ronstadt, they were guitarist John Forsha – who was also a session player on the band's first two albums – drummer John Ware, bassist John Keski, steel guitarist Herb Steiner, and drummer Bill Martin
William E. Martin
William E. Martin, also known as Bill Martin, is an American musician, songwriter, screenwriter, comedic actor and voice actor.-Life and career:...
.
Purists might contend that these Stone Poneys are not the real band, but only backing musicians for Linda Ronstadt; however, they were still being billed as Stone Poneys, and many of the musicians still view themselves as "ex-Stone Poneys". Shep Cooke fondly remembers his time with the band: "We rehearsed like crazy, finished the third Stone Poney album, toured the entire country for 2½ months, played on Joey Bishop
The Joey Bishop Show (talk show)
The Joey Bishop Show is an American talk show which was first broadcast on ABC on April 17, 1967, hosted by Joey Bishop and featuring Regis Philbin in his first concentrated national television exposure, as Bishop's sidekick/announcer...
's and Johnny Carson's TV shows*, went crazy for lack of sleep, and parted company (after the last gig
Gig (musical performance)
Gig is slang for a musical engagement in which musicians are hired. Originally coined in the 1920s by jazz musicians, the term, short for the word "engagement", now refers to any aspect of performing such as assisting with performance and attending musical performance...
in late 1968) reasonably good friends but a little disillusioned about 'the big time'."
(*There was never a 'Tonight Show' Stone Poneys appearance aired. Linda first appeared on the late night talk show in 1969. Her second appearance wasn't until 1983.)
Post break-up
Despite the lack of big hits, Linda Ronstadt was becoming increasingly well-known following the success of "Different Drum", and in 1969 she officially went solo with her album Hand Sown...Home Grown. However, beginning in the mid-1970s, Kenny Edwards recorded and toured with Linda for about 10 years. In 2007, Linda Ronstadt reconnected with Bob Kimmel in Tucson and sang harmony vocals on one of Kimmel's songs, "Into the Arms of Love" that was included on a CD released that year by his new band BK Special.Official Capitol releases
On the first two albums, most of the songSong
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s were written
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
by Bob Kimmel and Kenny Edwards. Under the guidance of producer Nik Venet and Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, the group recorded their first album in the fall of 1966, The Stone Poneys
The Stone Poneys (album)
The Stone Poneys is the debut studio album by the Stone Poneys; other than an early single of "So Fine" that was produced by Mike Curb in 1965, this album marks the first official recordings by Linda Ronstadt...
, which was released in January 1967. The album is notable for its precise strong-voiced harmony vocals. The disc's one and only single release "Sweet Summer Blue And Gold" received no airplay and failed to chart anywhere. (The first album is now mainly known by the name of the 1975 reissue, The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt).
The second album, Evergreen, Volume 2
Evergreen, Volume 2
Evergreen, Volume 2 is the second album from the Stone Poneys that was released five months after The Stone Poneys. The volume number is a reference to this being the band's second album.-Release Data:...
was released in June 1967; on this album, Linda Ronstadt sang lead vocals on almost all songs. The exception was the title track, which has a psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
feel; Kenny Edwards was the vocalist on "Part One", while "Part Two" was an instrumental that featured fine sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
work (also by Edwards).
The band hit pay dirt with Mike Nesmith's "Different Drum
Different Drum
"Different Drum" is a 1966 song written by Mike Nesmith and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense...
" (written and copyrighted in 1965 prior to Nesmith joining The Monkees
The Monkees
The Monkees are an American pop rock group. Assembled in Los Angeles in 1966 by Robert "Bob" Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, which aired from 1966 to 1968, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork,...
), the second 45 (following "One for One") from the new album. The band's version of "Different Drum" hit the Billboard Pop Chart on November 11, 1967 and stayed in the Hot 100 for 17 weeks, getting as high as #13; the song also reached #12 on the Cash Box survey. The song has been a staple on oldies
Oldies
Oldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
radio ever since - 43 years ago - and remains one of Linda Ronstadt's most popular recordings. Its parent record slid up Billboard's main album chart to #100 and lasted for a respectable 15 weeks on that chart.
Their third album was titled Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III
Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III is the third and final album by The Stone Poneys. Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year. The volume number is a reference to this being the third album by the band, though with a Roman numeral rather than the Arabic...
(released in April 1968); at this point, Capitol was promoting Linda Ronstadt rather than the band, and only Linda's picture was on the cover. Like its predecessor, the album had two singles: "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water" b/w "Carnival Bear" (released under the name Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys) which stalled at #93 on the Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
; and "Some of Shelly's Blues" b/w "Hobo" (released under the name Stone Poneys, Featuring Linda Ronstadt) which, like the album, did not chart. "Some of Shelly's Blues" was another Mike Nesmith song; and the album ended with the Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro
Laura Nyro was an American songwriter, singer, and pianist. She achieved considerable critical acclaim with her own recordings, particularly the albums Eli and the Thirteenth Confession and New York Tendaberry, and had commercial success with artists such as Barbra Streisand and The 5th...
song, "Stoney End", which turned out to have been aptly named (although the song was not written for The Stone Poneys).
"So Fine" single
After "Different Drum" became a hit, Mike CurbMike Curb
Michael Curb is an American musician, record company executive, NASCAR and IRL race car owner. A Republican, he served as the 42nd Lieutenant Governor of California from 1979-1983 under Democratic Governor Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr...
pulled out two of the recordings he had produced back in 1965, "So Fine" and "Everybody Has His Own Ideas", and decided to release them in 1968 as a 45 on his label Sidewalk
Sidewalk Records
Sidewalk Records was a record label based in Hollywood, California that was started in 1963 by Mike Curb at the age of eighteen. The company was first formed as Sidewalk Productions and later became a subsidiary label of Capitol Records. Many recordings by Sidewalk Productions appeared on the...
, which was a Capitol subsidiary. The single was put out without the knowledge of Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
– or Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
either, for that matter, who had paid for the recording session. Capitol record company executives were understandably furious, and the single was immediately pulled from the market. Thus, this disk has become one of the rarest Linda Ronstadt collectables, bringing as much as $144 (in a 2007 eBay
EBay
eBay Inc. is an American internet consumer-to-consumer corporation that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide...
auction).
Reissues
In the early 1970s, the PickwickPickwick Records
Pickwick Records was an American record label and distributor known for its budget album releases of sound-alike recordings, bargain bin reissues and repackagings under the brands Design, Bravo , Hurrah, Grand Prix, and children's records on the Cricket and Happy Time labels.The label is also...
record label licensed several Stone Poneys tracks from their Capitol albums. Five of these songs were included as Side 2 on a dual compilation album called Back on the Street Again (catalog number SPC-3245), with Side 1 consisting of five songs by David Clayton-Thomas
David Clayton-Thomas
David Clayton-Thomas is a Canadian musician and singer best known as the lead vocalist for the American band; Blood, Sweat & Tears...
that are taken from solo albums that he was recording while serving as the lead singer for Blood, Sweat and Tears. Other than the title song and "Different Drum", the Stone Poneys songs on this album are relatively obscure tracks that have hardly appeared at all on Ronstadt's compilation albums over the years: "Song About the Rain", "I've Got to Know" (also known as "I'd Like to Know") and "New Hard Times".
Apparently somewhat later, Pickwick released Stoney End (catalog number SPC-3298) under the name Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys. The only song included on both of the Pickwick albums is "Different Drum"; the other tracks on this album are mostly familiar songs like "One for One" and "Some of Shelly's Blues", as well as their recording of the 1960s classic "Let's Get Together". (The album was released on the heels of the successful reissue of the version by The Youngbloods
The Youngbloods
The Youngbloods was an American folk rock band consisting of Jesse Colin Young , Jerry Corbitt , Lowell Levinger, nicknamed "Banana," , and Joe Bauer . Despite receiving critical acclaim, they never achieved widespread popularity. Their only U.S. Top 40 entry was "Get Together".-Background and...
in 1969).
In 1974, prior to the release of Heart Like A Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album release and the last-ever of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high watermark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock...
, Capitol issued a Linda Ronstadt compilation titled Different Drum
Different Drum (album)
Different Drum is the first compilation album by Linda Ronstadt to be released by Capitol. One-half of the tracks are taken from the second and third albums by the Stone Poneys; while the other half are from her first three solo albums.This album was issued ten months prior to the November 1974...
, which featured five Stone Poney tracks and five songs from Ronstadt's first three solo albums. Aside from the title track, the four Stone Poneys tracks were remixed tracks from the third Stone Poneys' album, all featuring Ronstadt solo: "Hobo," "Up To My Neck In High Muddy Water," "Some Of Shelly's Blues," and "Stoney End."
Eight years after the release of the band's first album (in March 1975), it was reissued by Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
under the name The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt, as a result of the multi-platinum success Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
had in 1974-75 as a solo artist with the #1 album Heart Like A Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album release and the last-ever of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high watermark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock...
. The song listing in the reissue highlighted Ronstadt's three solo performances (she also sang solo on one verse in a fourth song that was not so identified). As a result, the largely unknown first album by The Stone Poneys was more widely available in the 1970s and 1980s than the subsequent albums that featured the band's more familiar songs.
In 1995, Capitol briefly issued the three Stone Poneys albums as individual CD releases. These releases were removed from the catalog within a few years.
In 2008, the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n label Raven
Raven Records
Raven Records is an Australian record label that specializes in retrospectives and reissues or recordings by American, British and Australian artists.Raven Records was established in 1979 by Glenn A. Baker, Kevin Mueller and Peter Shillito....
released The Stone Poneys, a 27-track "two-fer" CD featuring the first two Stone Poneys albums plus four tracks from their third album.
Linda Ronstadt has claimed dissatifaction with the arrangements of the three Stone Poneys albums many times over the years, but Capitol
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
has continually made money through reissues of the early material in numerous configurations. Also, in addition to their hit song "Different Drum
Different Drum
"Different Drum" is a 1966 song written by Mike Nesmith and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense...
", several of the other Stone Poneys tracks have been featured in many of Linda Ronstadt's compilation albums over the years, such as "Hobo", "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Stoney End".
Unreleased material
The now deleted Linda Ronstadt Box Set included the initial release of "Everybody Has His Own Ideas" besides the original 45; otherwise, the only Stone Poneys music made available on CD has been the songs on the original three albums, which has left many songs such as "Carnival Bear," from a 1968 single that never appeared on any of the albums, without any available issue. Even the three song "fragments" that open the third album – which total barely 1½ minutes – have never been reissued as full songs.Stone Pony Nightclub
The legendary nightclubNightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
that helped launch the careers of Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny
Southside Johnny is an American singer-songwriter, who usually fronts his band Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.-Early days:...
, Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi
Jon Bon Jovi is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and actor, best known as the founder, occasional rhythm guitarist, and lead singer of rock band Bon Jovi, which was named after him...
, and others – The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony
The Stone Pony, located in Asbury Park, New Jersey, is one of the world's best known music venues. It is known as a starting point for many musicians, first and foremost for Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were the house-band for much of the mid-seventies, but also for New Jersey natives...
in Asbury Park, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
– was founded in February 1974, nine months before Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
's major breakthrough album Heart Like A Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel
Heart Like a Wheel is Linda Ronstadt's fifth solo album release and the last-ever of her studio projects for Capitol Records, released in late 1974. It is universally considered to be Ronstadt's all-time high watermark masterpiece recording and a pioneering blueprint of Country Rock...
was released. Although this was many years after the Stone Poneys hit "Different Drum
Different Drum
"Different Drum" is a 1966 song written by Mike Nesmith and originally recorded by the northern bluegrass band the Greenbriar Boys and included on their 1966 album, Better Late than Never!. The song tells of a pair of lovers, one of whom wants to settle down, while the other wants to retain a sense...
" was on the charts, Ronstadt's Top 20 hit version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles
Silver Threads and Golden Needles
"Silver Threads and Golden Needles", a song written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, was first recorded by Wanda Jackson in 1956. The original lyrics, as performed by Jackson, contain a verse not usually included in later versions, which also often differed in other minor details.-Other versions:*...
" was released in the same time period. Whether or not the naming of the nightclub is related to this band is uncertain; the history of the nightclub as related on their website states that the name came to one of the founding owners in a dream.
Discography
Numbers in parentheses indicate the date of release, and also the highest position on Billboard chartsSingles
- "Sweet Summer Blue and Gold" b/w "All the Beautiful Things" (rel. 1/67) – Capitol #45-1024
- "One for One" b/w "Evergreen" (rel. 6/67) – Capitol #P 5910; promo; pale green label
- "One for One" b/w "Evergreen" (rel. 6/67) – Capitol #5910; yellow/orange swirl label
- "Different Drum" b/w "I've Got to Know" (rel. 9/67) – Capitol #P 2004; promo; pale green label
- "Different Drum" b/w "I've Got to Know" (rel. 9/67) – Capitol #2004; yellow/orange swirl label (#13)
- "Different Drum" b/w "I've Got to Know" (rel. 9/67) – Capitol #2004, red and orange label
- "Up to My Neck in High Muddy Water" b/w "Carnival Bear" (rel. 3/68) – Capitol #P 2110; promo; pale green label
- "Up to My Neck in High Muddy Water" b/w "Carnival Bear" (rel. 3/68) – Capitol #2110; yellow/orange swirl label (#93)
- "Some of Shelly's Blues" b/w "Hobo" (rel. 5/68) – Capitol #P 2195; promo; pale green label
- "Some of Shelly's Blues" b/w "Hobo" (rel. 5/68) – Capitol #2195; yellow/orange swirl label
(Re-Issue 45s)
- "Different Drum" b/w "Long Long Time" (rel. 1980±); double-sided 'back-to-back' hits – Capitol #X-6185, violet label
- "Different Drum" b/w "Long Long Time" (rel. 1975±); double-sided 'back-to-back' hits – Capitol/Starline #6185 grey label
Studio albums
- The Stone PoneysThe Stone Poneys (album)The Stone Poneys is the debut studio album by the Stone Poneys; other than an early single of "So Fine" that was produced by Mike Curb in 1965, this album marks the first official recordings by Linda Ronstadt...
– (rel. 1/67) - Evergreen, Volume 2Evergreen, Volume 2Evergreen, Volume 2 is the second album from the Stone Poneys that was released five months after The Stone Poneys. The volume number is a reference to this being the band's second album.-Release Data:...
– (rel. 6/67) (#100) - Linda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. IIILinda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. IIILinda Ronstadt, Stone Poneys and Friends, Vol. III is the third and final album by The Stone Poneys. Linda Ronstadt would release her first solo album the following year. The volume number is a reference to this being the third album by the band, though with a Roman numeral rather than the Arabic...
– (rel. 4/68) - The Stone Poneys Featuring Linda Ronstadt – (rel. 3/75, reissue of first album) (#172)
Compilation albums
- Stoney End – rel. 1970
- The Stone Poneys – rel. 2008