Carole King is a singer-songwriter. Linda Ronstadt is a singer-songwriter. Carole King had a huge hit with her 1971 album Tapestry. Linda Ronstadt had a huge hit with her 1974 album Heart Like a Wheel. Carole King has had multiple No. 1 hit albums. Linda Ronstadt has had multiple No. 1 hit albums.
But Carole King is no Linda Ronstadt.
Where Ronstadt recently brewed her tempest at the Aladdin by saluting progressive filmmaker Michael Moore (not to mention bad-mouthing the casino and Las Vegas) at a recent concert, King is keeping her support for John Kerry's presidential run and her musical career separate.
"I decided early that my choice would be to use the stage to entertain people and to speak in general terms about the importance of voting," says King, "and using our intelligence, in the sense of our minds, to do the homework, do the research, not be influenced by attack ads, and educate people about the importance of all those things, without advocating for my candidate on my stage.
"I want all people to feel comfortable coming to hear my show, because it is a show. Off stage is another matter."
Off stage, King has been stumping for Kerry for years, going back to his uncontested 2002 re-election to the Senate, when she says the Democrat asked for her support. This summer saw her hitting the road in support of him again as he runs for the Oval Office, traveling through her own conservative state of Idaho as well as New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa and of course performing at the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
But the 62-year-old musician says her devotion to the senator from Massachusetts doesn't get out of control.
"I'm not disrespectful. I'm not about bashing other candidates. I'm about encouraging people to focus on the issues that we all have in common, and to think about which candidate is really going to address their needs."
Politics is hardly a new arena for the singer-songwriter, who became an environmental activist after moving to Idaho in 1977, working hard lobbying for the passage of the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. She was also a strong supporter of former Sen. Gary Hart's two bids for the presidency in 1984 and 1988.
"Gary Hart was an early supporter of John Kerry, and remained a supporter, and he speaks around the country on behalf of John Kerry. Gary Hart was one of the first people to really delve into the issue of terrorism, and the potential things for us to be aware of," she says. "And he's one of the most knowledgable people about terrorism and what's necessary, and he believes that John Kerry is on the right track for how to combat terrorism."
On stage, King has been performing in scaled-down concerts, in part because of her political activism, called the Living Room Tour. Her last album, Love Makes the World, came out in 2001 and her next isn't due until 2005, but she just feels that now is a good time to be touring. "To perform as if I'm in someone's house playing for friends is something I can get excited about," she has said.
As an added bonus to the chance of hearing her live for the first time in 10 years, King has been conducting a songwriting experiment each night on stage, with guitarist Rudy Guess and singer-songwriter Gary Burr.
"[We] answer the question for folks, 'How do you write a song?' We actually write a song in front of them, with no prior discussion," King explains. "It's a different song every night. We never know what we're going to do or say; we just kind of come up with it on the spot.
"After November 2, I'll sleep, I'll rest," she jokes, "and then we'll take a look at some of the songs we started and try to finish some of those more worthy ones."
Like politics, much of that creative process is a mix of past experience and grappling with the uncertain future.
"Sometimes there are awkward moments when there's a long pause and the audience doesn't quite know where we're going, because we've had the experience of doing it," says King. "We don't quite know where we're going either, but we know that we're going somewhere."