Once in a great while, a local theater production comes out of nowhere, grabs the collective hearts of all who see it and refuses to let go, like the echo of a lingering musical note.

This year, that show was “Raised on Ronstadt,” a heartfelt musical memoir written and performed by GerRee Hinshaw and produced by Local Theater Company at eTown Hall in Boulder. This was an unknown world premiere that sold out most performances and added shows. I cannot make it too strong a point when I say: That almost never happens.

“Raised on Ronstadt” was a juggernaut, says Local Theater co-Artistic Director Betty Hart. The kind of show that struck such an immediate, universal chord across generations, genres and ethnicities, it instantly becomes something Hinshaw could perform somewhere in the world for the rest of her life and never run out of an audience. It helps, of course, when you’ve got a voice like Hinshaw’s.

“She’s got pipes,” said her dramaturg, Elaine Romero. “Like the kind that make your soul move with the earthquakes of California kind of pipes.”

“‘Raised on Ronstadt’ is the story of America — and the story of America can be both a painful one, and a beautiful one,” Hart said. “By tapping into some of the core tenets of this nation, like the desire to find oneself, and the love of family, GerRee found a way to allow multiple generations of people entry into her story.”

Hinshaw’s unusual first name — GerRee — is the invention of her maternal grandmother. It’s a feminization of St. Gerard, patron saint of pregnant women. Her grandparents picked cotton in Stamford, Texas, where teachers spanked GerRee’s young mother for speaking Spanish on the playground. Success, according to their 1960s mindset, could only happen through assimilation. Fast forward to 1980s Fort Worth, where GerRee grew up like a lot of ’80s kids — in a big, splintered, multigenerational and mostly loving family. And at the heart of this one was Hinshaw, her mother, and the legendary voice of Linda Ronstadt, who has sold 100 million records spanning an unprecedented array of genres.

In her first playwriting experience, Hinshaw wraps Ronstadt’s classic songs in the warm blanket of her own memories. There’s GerRee curled up in a papasan wicker chair wailing “When Will I Be Loved?” at age 4. Sailing down I-35 on spring-break road trips alongside her mom with Ronstadt on blast in their ’82 sky-blue Dodge Colt.

When Ronstadt’s singing voice was later robbed by Parkinson’s disease, that set an adult Hinshaw on an unexpected journey to connect with her own Mexican identity.

“GerRee wrote ‘Raised on Ronstadt’ as a love story to her own extended family,” said Local Theater Company founder Pesha Rudnick. “And in doing so, we all fell in love with her, and with Linda, all over again.”

“‘Raised on Ronstadt’ would not have been the complete musical package without a whole lot of collaborators, starting with director Dee Covington, music director Scott Martin and guitarist Mari Meza-Burgos. It was as if the entire creative team, Hart said, was feeding off each other and working as one.

“GerRee is that rare creature whose heart is as big as her brain,” Covington said. “So when we are working together, we cry as hard as we think. We dig around in all the directions until we find an uncompromising harmony.”

The production was universally praised. “More of this, please,” wrote Alex Miller, editor of OnStage Colorado: “An original, local production that combines music, comedy, personal narrative and an enormous warmth that makes you leave the theater feeling all squishy inside.”

And “Raised on Ronstadt” was only one of Hinshaw’s 2022 creative accomplishments.

For more than 20 years, she has hosted the Bug Theatre’s monthly, all-comers open-mic variety show “Freak Train.” (“Hinshaw’s energy and impressive crowd work light up the room and keep the show moving at an entertaining pace,” wrote Denver NorthStar journalist Toni Tresca.) She was part of the team that took years developing and launching the world premiere of Curious Theatre’s “Refuge,” another poignant exploration of who we are as a country. That musical play chronicled the harrowing journey of a 17-year-old Honduran girl who crosses the U.S. border into Texas, with Hinshaw portraying a pregnant border patrol agent. She also helped Denver’s singular little And Toto Too Theater Company raise money by participating in its annual Play Crawl, an evening of short pop-up plays written by local women and performed in Tennyson Street retailers. Hinshaw acted in a funny little original play by Edith Weiss called “A Couple of Bitches in a Coffee Shop.” (Hey, it was about a dog!)

Just a week ago, Hinshaw sang (and read) her heart out in Stories on Stage’s popular annual tradition “Making Merry,” alongside an all-star ensemble including DCPA legend Jamie Horton, Anthony Powell, David Nehls and John Hauser. Whether singing a song, playing a part or telling holiday tales, Hinshaw is, to her core, “a tender-hearted storyteller,” Covington says.

But “Raised on Ronstadt” elevated Hinshaw to yet another level in 2022. And this, Rudnick says, is just the beginning.

“They say first love is the sweetest,” Rudnick said, “but I suspect there’s much more to come from the brilliant powerhouse that is GerRee Hinshaw.”

Note: The True West Awards, now in their 22nd year, began as the Denver Post Ovation Awards in 2001. Denver Gazette Senior Arts Journalist John Moore celebrates the Colorado theater community by revisiting 30 of the best stories from the past year without categories or nominations.

‘Raised on Ronstadt’: Cast and creatives

• ​​GerRee Hinshaw: Writer and performer
• Dee Covington: Director
• Scott Martin: Music Director and pianist
• Mari Meza-Burgos: Guitarist
• Joe Mazza: Guitarist
• Elaine Romero: Dramaturg
• David J. Castellano: Production designer
• Sean Mallary: Lighting designer
• Aaron Sanders: Stage manager