Adieu False Heart

1	Opening / Ann Savoy 0:32
2	Adieu False Heart / Ann Savoy 3:34
3	I Can't Get Over You / Ann Savoy 3:07
4	Marie Mouri / Ann Savoy 3:31
5	King of Bohemia / Ann Savoy 3:04
6	Tournes, Tournes Bébé Créole / Ann Savoy 2:45
7	Go Away from My Window / Ann Savoy 3:01
8	Burn's Super / Ann Savoy 3:43
9	The One I Love Is Gone / Ann Savoy 2:37
10	Interlude / Ann Savoy 0:24
11	Rattle My Cage / Ann Savoy 2:48
12	Parlez-Moi d'Amour / Ann Savoy 4:35
13	Too Old to Die Young / Ann Savoy 3:17
14	Interlude / Ann Savoy 0:31
15	Walk Away Renee / Ann Savoy 3:26
16	Closing / Ann Savoy 1:08

Barnes & Noble

Suffused with melancholy and aching with the sweet sorrow of parting, Adieu False Heart is an aptly titled discourse on the journey from heartbreak to healing. Linda Ronstadt and the acclaimed Cajun belter Ann Savoy, who first teamed on the 2002 Cajun music tribute album Evangeline Made, sing solo and in harmony with a delicacy and knowing restraint that may even surprise the artists' longtime followers. These are intimate confessions, arranged with spare, acoustic instrumentation (among the key players are Sam Bush on mandolin, Byron House on upright bass, and the incomparable Stuart Duncan on fiddle, with Kristin Wilkinson doing her usual superb job on string arrangements) that provides gentle ballast for these 13 songs. The pair extend their Cajun collaboration with three tunes sung in French Cajun, including the 1930s hit "Parlez-Moi D'amour," its ethereal vocal duet boasting a tender winsomeness worthy of Edith Piaf's most memorable paeans to the lovelorn. They range far and wide for the rest of their material: The rustic title song is based on a 19th-century tune popularized by Arthur Smith; the duo cop a hypnotic kiss-off number, "The One I Love Is Gone," from Bill Monroe; Julie Miller's "I Can't Get Over You" elicits a tear-inducing reading from Ronstadt, whose interpretation is as moving for what she holds back as for what it gives in emotional wallop; and Richard Thompson is the recipient of extraordinarily deep performances of his lilting, slightly acidic "King of Bohemia" and his devastating sotto voce ballad "Burns' Supper." Topping it off, a Cajun ballad makeover transforms the Left Banke hit "Walk Away Renée." A transcendent experience, Adieu False Heart is all raw nerve, but it hurts so good. David McGee

All Music Guide

Few artists in popular music have roamed as restlessly as Linda Ronstadt. Since the mid-'80s, when she broke away from her sure-fire SoCal pop/rock formula long enough to team with the legendary arranger Nelson Riddle for a trio of pop standards albums, Ronstadt has continued to diversify: a couple of Spanish-language albums here, a kids' set there, a Christmas album, an outing with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris. Adieu False Heart is yet another detour down a side road for Ronstadt: a full-fledged collaboration with Ann Savoy, a mainstay of the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, one of the most respected bands within that genre. Ronstadt and Savoy first worked together on the 2002 compilation album Evangeline Made: A Tribute to Cajun Music, and Adieu False Heart is, in its own way, a tribute as well. Although its soul resides squarely in Cajun country, it's not as purist a Cajun recording as those Savoy makes with Savoy-Doucet, a band that also includes her husband, accordionist Marc Savoy, and the ace fiddler Michael Doucet. Yet it's as different from Ronstadt's radio hits as the Riddle and mariachi recordings were, and rendered as honestly and confidently: Ronstadt clearly enjoys visiting Savoy's musical territory and honoring this particular pocket of Americana. The pair, switching off on lead vocals and/or harmonizing tightly, take two from the British songsmith Richard Thompson, "Burns' Supper" and "King of Bohemia," alongside largely languid material from Bill Monroe, Julie Miller, and others. But the big ear-opener of the album is the duo's cover of "Walk Away Renee," the Left Banke's 1966 Top Five hit, here recast as an acoustic weeper. That Ronstadt would give the song such a heartfelt reading does not surprise -- it's a natural for her songbook. That she and Savoy so effortlessly transform it into a Cajun-style ballad does. With top pickers like mandolinist Sam Bush and bassist Byron House onboard, and the two versatile vocalists clearly enjoying their moment together, Adieu False Heart captures the Cajun flavor naturally, without pretending to be something it's not. Jeff Tamarkin

Billboard

A special album: a moving collection of essential folk tunes, forged via a meeting of gifted musicians and equally adept songwriters. Philip Van Vleck

Los Angeles Times

It will slake the thirst of anyone interested in music speaking quietly from, and to, the heart. Randy Lewis

San Francisco Chronicle

There is something wonderfully timeless about this gorgeous set of acoustic folk songs, brilliantly produced and beautifully rendered by these two musical giants. Joel Selvin

Los Angeles Daily News

1/2 The best ballad record Ronstadt has made since the '70s. Bob Strauss