Linda Ronstadt documentary, 'The Sound of My Voice,' will most likely bring you to tears

"Right now, I'd like you to meet a young lady – a very lovely young lady – that I really think has what it takes to be around for a long, long time to come."

And with that rumbling introduction, Johnny Cash becomes the first in a seemingly endless stream of legendary voices paying tribute to the star of "Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice," a documentary by Oscar-winning filmmakers Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.

In her first of several appearances, Dolly Parton enthuses, "Linda could literally sing anything."

This is followed by Bonnie Raitt (who later calls her "the Beyoncé of her day"), saying, "I don't think anybody has tried more different styles and nailed it than Linda has."

These are points made abundantly clear as the film makes its way from that powerful early performance of "You're No Good" through a grittier, more self-assured performance of that same song through "The Pirates of Penzance" to the Great American Songbook and her loving tribute to the traditional Mexican folk songs she learned from her father growing up in Tucson.

It falls to Ronstadt, then, to offset her own ticker-tape parade with an attempt to put her singing in perspective.

"There are a lot of really good singers out in the world," she says. "A lot of better singers than I am. What I did that was different than a lot of other singers, I did a whole lot of different kinds of material. People would think that I was trying to reinvent myself. But I never invented myself to start with."

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Is she selling herself short? Of course she is. But Ronstadt's modesty and self-awareness have been hallmarks of her interviews for years. And here, her words provide a necessary counterweight to the effusive praise we hear from every other talking head.

If what you want is a bloodletting portrait of a complicated artist, "David Crosby: Remember My Name" is maybe more your speed.

"Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice" is more a celebration of a life in music.

And as celebrations go, it would be pretty hard to beat – thanks to a life's supply of great performance footage.

Many try but no one makes a stronger case for Ronstadt's prowess as a vocalist than the singer herself. And it's not anything she says. It's how she sings in those performance clips, charting her growth as a force of nature from an unassuming early take of "Different Drum" before producer Nick Venet reinvented the song as a chamber-pop masterpiece to a full-bodied vocal on stage at the helm of a mariachi troupe.

There are far too many highlights here to list them all but an understated "Long Long Time" on "The Dick Cavett Show" and "Blue Bayou" are certainly among them, as is "Rescue Me," a live performance featuring two future Eagles in her backing band, Don Henley and Glenn Frey.

Her independent spirit also shines as Ronstadt offers hot takes on her own successes. That reinvented "Different Drum" with all the orchestration? "I didn't want to put it on the record," she says, "because that isn't the way I had originally envisioned it." Then, she giggles, and says, "It was a good thing they didn't listen to me."

Her initial reaction to Peter Asher's guitar-driven production on her first chart-topping single, "You're No Good?" "Oh, I don't like it. It sounds like the Beatles."

The filmmakers have done their best to touch on nearly every highlight of her life in music while tracing her musical roots to her childhood. As Ronstadt recalls, as a child, she would listen to opera on Saturday mornings at her grandparents' house and then come home to find her father playing Mexican songs on the piano and her mom playing Gilbert and Sullivan pieces.

Toss in a sister who loved Hank Williams, and you've got the DNA for much of her career.

The film builds, as it must, to a bittersweet ending.

As Ronstadt recalls in the film, "As time went on, there was something really wrong with my voice. I just lost a lot of different colors in my voice."

Unable to perform to her own standards, the singer gave her last performance, a Mexican show, in 2009, and retired two years later, finally learning the cause behind the loss of her ability to sing in late 2012 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

"Singing is really complex," she says. "And I was made most aware of it by having it vanish. I can still sing in my mind but I can't do it physically."

After hearing from JD Souther, Peter Asher and Emmylou Harris on what that loss has meant to Ronstadt, we're left with a heartbreaking scene of the singer surrounded by family, quietly singing a Mexican ballad with nephew Peter Ronstadt and cousin Bobby Ronstadt.

To fans who never thought they'd hear her sing again, it's a deeply emotional moment. And it doesn't sound a thing like Linda Ronstadt. But it's beautiful to witness all the same.

"This isn't really singing," Ronstadt says. "Believe me. It's a few notes sketched in. But it's not really singing."

Asked if she's enjoying it, she smiles and says, "Well, I would enjoy it much more if I could sing. But I can't let them sing this without me. It's a family thing."

She laughs. Then they go back to singing their sad song about having no mother or father. When it's over, Ronstadt laughs and asks, "Do we get to eat?"

As perfect as that ending would have been, they cut from there to Ronstadt's well-deserved induction in 2013 to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where a stage full of women, including Harris, Raitt and fellow Arizona native Stevie Nicks, take turns standing in for that beautiful voice that's been silenced on one of Ronstadt's biggest rock hits, "When Will I Be Loved."

'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,' 3.5 stars

Director: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman.

Cast: Linda Ronstadt, JD Souther, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris.

Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language and drug material.

Note: At Harkins Camelview at Fashion Square.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice' will most likely bring you to tears