Heart Like a Wheel

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]
Christgau's Record Guide	A–[4]
Pitchfork	8.5/10[5]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[6]
Tom Hull	B[7]

Heart Like a Wheel became Ronstadt's first album to hit the top spot on the Billboard Top 200 album chart and spent four weeks at number 1 on the Billboard Country Album chart in early 1975. "You're No Good," the first single release from the record company, reached number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. A cover of The Everly Brothers' "When Will I Be Loved" spent two weeks at number 2 on the Hot 100 in June 1975 and reached number 1 on the Cash Box Pop singles chart and on the Hot Country Songs chart. Buddy Holly & the Crickets song, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", also appeared on the Pop, Adult Contemporary and Country charts.[8]

Stephen Holden's 1975 review Rolling Stone described the title track as "a masterpiece of writing and arrangement" and lauded the album's expansive repertoire, production and song selection.[9] The album's cover of Hank Williams's "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)," peaked at number 2 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart.[10]

Heart Like a Wheel spent 51 weeks on the album chart.[11]

Retrospective reviews of Heart Like a Wheel widely regard it as a high-point in Ronstadt's oeuvre. In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine described it as "a landmark of '70s mainstream pop/rock."[3] John Lingan claimed in his review for Pitchfork that "[Ronstadt] had one power, but it was a superpower. Viewed from one angle, Linda Ronstadt’s career is the story of a woman gradually recognizing the power of her own voice. She had the tone early, but you can hear her control improve in each successive album. Her breaths sound more natural, her vibrato becomes more pronounced. By Heart Like a Wheel, she’d mastered it."[5]

In 1976, the album earned Ronstadt four nominations at the Grammy Awards. She won Best Country Vocal Performance, Female for the track, "I Can't Help It If I'm Still In Love with You". She was also nominated for Album Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. Producer Peter Asher was among the nominees for Producer of the Year.[12]

In 2006, CMT ranked "Heart Like a Wheel" No. 34 on its list of the 40 greatest albums in country music.[13] The album was ranked No. 490 on the September 22, 2020 edition of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[14]

Heart Like a Wheel was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2013 for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important."[15]

Adapted from album's liner notes.[17]

• Linda Ronstadt – lead vocals, backing vocals (2, 4, 6, 9)
• Andrew Gold – electric piano (1, 3), electric guitar solo (1), drums (1, 2, 3, 7), percussion (1, 2, 3), acoustic piano (3, 4, 5, 8, 10), electric rhythm guitar (4), tambourine (4, 6), guitars (6), backing vocals (6, 7), acoustic guitar (7, 8), ukulele (8). Credit on album cover: "Special thanks to Andrew Gold for his help with the arrangments."
• Eddie Black – electric guitar (1)
• Bob Warford – acoustic guitar (2, 4, 8), electric guitar solo (4), electric guitar (7)
• Sneaky Pete Kleinow – pedal steel guitar (2, 7, 8)
• J. D. Souther – acoustic guitar (3), harmony vocals (3)
• Herb Pedersen – banjo (3), backing vocals (7)
• Paul Craft – acoustic guitar (9)
• John Starling – acoustic guitar (9)
• Danny Pendleton – pedal steel guitar (9)
• John Boylan – acoustic guitar (10)
• Glenn Frey – acoustic guitar (10)
• Kenny Edwards – bass guitar (1, 2, 6-8), backing vocals (6, 7)
• Chris Ethridge – bass guitar (3)
• Emory Gordy Jr. – bass guitar (4)
• Tom Guidera – bass guitar (9)
• Timothy B. Schmit – bass guitar (10)
• Dennis St. John – drums (4)
• Russ Kunkel – drums (6)
• Lloyd Myers – drums (8)
• Don Henley – drums (10)
• Peter Asher – percussion (2), cowbell (6), backing vocals (10)
• Jimmie Fadden – harmonica (2, 7)
• David Lindley – fiddle (5, 8)
• Gregory Rose – string arrangements and conductor (1, 2, 10)
• David Campbell – string arrangements (5), viola (5)
• Dennis Karmazyn – cello (5)
• Richard Feves – double bass (5)
• Clydie King – backing vocals (1)
• Sherlie Matthews – backing vocals (1)
• Wendy Waldman – backing vocals (2)
• Cissy Houston – backing vocals (4)
• Joyce Nesbitt – backing vocals (4)
• Maria Muldaur – backing vocals (5)
• Emmylou Harris – harmony vocals (8)

Production

• Peter Asher – producer
• Val Garay – engineer, mixing
• David Hassinger – engineer, mixing
• Dennis Ferrante – assistant engineer
• John Haeny – assistant engineer
• Peter Kelsey – assistant engineer
• George Massenburg – assistant engineer
• Peter Swettenham – assistant engineer
• Bernie Grundman – mastering at A&M Mastering Studios (Hollywood, California).
• Rod Dyer – design
• Leandro Correa – photography
• Eve Babitz – photography

• Heart Like a Wheel at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)
• Linda Ronstadt: “Heart Like a Wheel” | Studio 360 on WNYC's Inside The Recording Registry