Editor's note: This article first appeared in Sun Life Magazine, a Daily Independent publication.
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Ann Hampton Callaway’s singing has quite literally taken her around the world. The Tony Award-nominee has sung for U.S. Presidents, and her compositions have been recorded and performed by some of the biggest names in the business, from Barbra Streisand to Carole King.
But for her, there’s nothing quite like returning home to Arizona, much less performing in her adopted home state and also paying tribute to a legendary Arizona songstress.
The classically trained pop jazz singer-songwriter will get to do all three when “Ann Hampton Callaway: The Linda Ronstadt Songbook” comes to The Phoenix Symphony stage in May. Three performances will draw from the Tucson native’s iconic songs including “Blue Bayou” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” to hits like “You’re No Good” and “Poor, Poor Pitiful Me” to classics “What’s New” and “Am I Blue.”
Callaway, however, gets to interpret the selections to honor the woman behind the voice.
“She really just basically did the kind of music that she wanted to do and most of it came from her childhood,” Callaway said of Ronstadt. “Nobody wanted her to do a standards record. Nobody wanted her to do a Mexican album. Nobody wanted her to be doing opera. She just obeyed her own instincts.”
The Ronstadt family’s Arizona ties are much celebrated, particularly in southern Arizona. A music hall in Tucson is named in Linda’s honor, streets are named after family members, and six different Ronstadt family ensembles perform music to this day with old songs from Sonora, Mexico, as part of the family heritage through the generations.
Linda, an 11-time Grammy winner and legendary figure in country, rock and roll, and Latin music, achieved critical and commercial success in the 1970s. She announced her retirement in 2011, disclosing later that she could no longer sing due to her progressive supranuclear palsy, initially misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease.
And Callaway is no stranger to paying tribute to her through music.
When Ronstadt was celebrated in the annual Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C., in 2019, it was Callaway – a Women Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee herself – who was invited to perform a tribute show to Ronstadt.
In a twist of fate, Callaway and her wife moved from New York City to make their home in Tucson eight years ago. She and Ronstadt had an email and phone relationship going but finally got to meet in person in Tucson.
“We were in town at the same time. And we've had a very beautiful friendship,” Callaway said. “It's not a deep friendship, but we've had some very interesting, thoughtful exchanges through the years, and it's been so lovely to be honored by her and to have her have faith in me.”
Now as an Arizonan herself, Callaway quickly found inspiration in the Sonoran Desert landscape.
“I fell in love with Tucson in 1991 when I performed at Centennial Hall and I was just so moved by the mountains and the skies and the people,” she recalled. “I had never spent time in the desert before, and it was just surprisingly a happy place to live.”
Tony Award nominee and Women Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Ann Hampton Callaway moved to Arizona eight years ago and will honor the songbook of Linda Ronstadt at Symphony Hall in May.
(Photo provided by Steele Management)
Joining Callaway for the three performances at Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix will be, on piano, Billy Stritch. The Grammy winning composer, arranger, vocalist, and jazz pianist for 25 years collaborated with Liza Minnelli and also toured as pianist and musical director for Tony Bennett.
Featuring on guitar will be Bob Mann, who has extensively recorded and toured with Linda Ronstadt.
Soon enough Callaway’s tour will take her to many other cities and countries, but for one weekend in May she’ll be at home performing to celebrate one of Arizona’s brightest desert stars.
“She is an inherent part of Arizona history,” Callaway said of Ronstadt. “Her musical family roots go several generations, and I feel very proud to be celebrating a great Arizona artist and be somebody who is so inspired by Arizona as well.”
Ann Hampton Callaway is pictured during a past performance with The Phoenix Symphony.
(Photo provided by The Phoenix Symphony)
Celebrated conductor and musician Andrés Franco will lead the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra during the three “Ann Hampton Callaway: The Linda Ronstadt Songbook” performances.
(Photo by James Korn, provided by The Phoenix Symphony)
Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment
YourValley.net
sstockmar@iniusa.org
Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.
Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.
Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.
Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.
Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.
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