The group featured Ronstadt showcasing an eclectic mix of songs, often from under-appreciated songwriters, requiring a wide array of backing musicians.
[1] Kimmel had already met and befriended Edwards shortly before Ronstadt's arrival in Los Angeles, and they had started writing folk-rock songs together.
in December 1964, after dropping out of Catalina High School and completing a semester at the University of Arizona, Ronstadt decided to move to Los Angeles to join Bobby Kimmel and form a band.
[3] The band was discovered by a couple of music industry executives while rehearsing at a soul food restaurant called Olivia's in Ocean Park, a community between Venice Beach and Santa Monica.
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.
[4] They worked in intimate clubs like The Troubadour in Hollywood, California, where they opened for artists including Odetta and Oscar Brown Jr.;[2] The Insomniac in Hermosa Beach, where they often appeared with The Chambers Brothers;[4] and The Bitter End in Greenwich Village.
One night at The Troubadour, the band'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".
[2] 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.
"[2] In a late 1966 article in Billboard, Venet referenced the formation of a new record label under Capitol called FolkWorld specifically to promote folk-rock artists.
Although the FolkWorld concept was never realized, 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 first album, simply called The Stone Poneys, was more folk than rock and featured relatively few lead vocals by Ronstadt; it received little notice.
"[6] For the second album, Evergreen, Volume 2, the songs were in more of a rock vein; and Ronstadt was moved firmly into the lead vocalist position, with only occasional harmony vocals.
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.
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.
Also unlike the other 45s, which had been released solely under the name of the band, the "Different Drum" single also included in small letters: "Featuring Linda Ronstadt".
After "Different Drum" hit the charts, Kimmel and Ronstadt rounded up some more musicians, and the reformed Stone Poneys began touring with The Doors.
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.
"[9] Another latter-day member of Stone Poneys was Kit Alderson, who would later help train Joaquin Phoenix 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.
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'.
Despite the lack of big hits, 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.
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.
Like its predecessor, the album had two singles: "Up to My Neck in High Muddy Water" b/w "Carnival Bear" (released under the name Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys) which stalled at No.
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 in the US, but reached No.
After "Different Drum" became a hit, Mike Curb 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.
Apparently a little later, Pickwick released Stoney End (catalog number SPC-3298) under the name Linda Ronstadt & The Stone Poneys.
Ronstadt has claimed dissatisfaction 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 Ronstadt's compilation albums over the years, such as "Hobo", "Some of Shelly's Blues" and "Stoney End".