Photo: Alan Mercer
Mandy Barnett, a native of Crossville, Tennessee, started singing at five years-old. She has been singing since. Mandy’s style is rooted in the classic country and pop crooning of iconic singers and enduring sounds. She delves into a song with a keen interpretative sense, studying the intricacies of its emotional content and rendering a powerful performance through her full-bodied voice.
As a teenager, Mandy starred as country music legend Patsy Cline in the stage show “Always . . . Patsy Cline” at the celebrated Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The performances sold out nightly and received rave reviews across the country. Mandy, in role as Patsy, appears on the Decca Records cast recording.
Mandy soon signed with Asylum Records where she released her first album as herself, appropriately entitled, “Mandy Barnett.” The album received glowing reviews in major trade publications and magazines, including “Time" magazine, as well as praise from veteran country artists and fans.
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Photo: Norman Jean Roy
In due course, Seymour Stein, who introduced the world to Madonna, Seal, the Barenaked Ladies, and k.d. lang, heard Mandy’s voice and was, he said, “spellbound.” When Stein launched Sire Records within Warner Music Group, Mandy was the first artist he signed. Mandy’s Sire Records project paired her with the undisputed pioneer of the Nashville Sound, producer Owen Bradley. The album that they made together, “I’ve Got A Right To Cry,” would be his final contribution to the community who knew him through his work with legends Ernest Tubb, Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Kitty Wells.
Photo: Mark Tucker
“I’ve Got A Right To Cry” was a huge critical success. “Rolling Stone” magazine named it the top country album of 1999. Other stellar reviews appeared in “People,” “Newsweek,” “Interview,” and multiple national newspapers. Mandy appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” and PBS’s “Sessions at West 54th” as a result of her acclaim.
In addition to her own albums, Mandy has been featured on movie soundtracks, including “A Walk On the Moon,” “Traveller,” “Space Cowboys,” “Election,” “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” and “Crazy.” Mandy also sang on the SpongeBob SquarePants album “The Best Day Ever,” sharing the spotlight with the likes of Brian Wilson, Tommy Ramone, Flaco Jimenez, and NRBQ. In 2012, Mandy’s rendition of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” was prominently showcased in “Political Animals,” the USA Network television series starring Sigourney Weaver and Ellen Burstyn.
Mandy tours regularly, nationally and internationally, and is a frequent guest on the Grand Ole Opry. She reprised her role as “Patsy Cline” in the acclaimed production “Always . . . Patsy Cline” at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee during 2009, in honor of the 15th anniversary of the celebrated venue’s extensive renovations and re-opening. Back by popular demand, Mandy again hit the Ryman stage in “Always . . . Patsy Cline” in June and July 2011.
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Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Rounder Records teamed up for the 2010 release of Mandy’s Christmas album “Winter Wonderland,” which distinguished music historian and critic Robert K. Oermann called “an instant classic.” The “L.A. Times” lauded Mandy’s “pipes of steel,” “big” voice and “glorious echo” harkening back to the likes of all-time great female singers like Cline and timeless sounds. “All Music” proclaimed “Winter Wonderland” as “timeless,” as Mandy captures the nostalgic holiday mood “perfectly and wonderfully.”
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Mandy’s “Sweet Dreams” album, released in 2011 on the Opry Music label and Warner Bros. digital, features Mandy’s renditions of songs previously recorded by Patsy Cline. Reviewing “Sweet Dreams,” DigitalRodeo.com applauded Mandy’s talents as “one of the most beautiful ‘classic country’ female voices of all time. She has total control of her voice and sings effortlessly. Barnett is a true master of her craft.” “Country Weekly” magazine affirmed this view, noting how Mandy embodies “the emotional torch-and-twang style of Patsy Cline with authority” with her captivating “effortless and emotional performances.”
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Mandy’s last album, “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson,” debuted in November 2013. It’s a salute to the iconic songs penned by Country Music Hall of Fame member Gibson, whom Mandy befriended a few years prior to his passing in 2003. Covering the album’s debut, “USA Today” called Mandy one of the "finest classic country and torch singers" to come out of Nashville. Other reviewers heralded “I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson” as “a riveting album” that showcases Mandy’s “exquisite,” “powerful and spellbinding,” “soaring country torch” voice.
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Photo: Cyndi Hornsby
Mandy has a new album out on September 21, 2018 titled 'Strange Conversation' that she recorded at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio at 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama.
Photo: Alan Mercer
Alan Mercer: I’m trying to remember when I first started hearing of you. Did you start your career by the middle 90’s?
Mandy Barnett: When I first started I was really young.
AM: So, you’ve been performing all your life?
MB: All my life. I started doing shows with Archie Campbell when I was 8 years old. I won a big contest at Dollywood when I was 10 years old and so I worked there for a couple years. Then when I was 12 years old, Jimmy Bowen signed me to Universal, but he left and went to Capitol and took me with him. Basically from 12 to 18 I was signed to a major label through him. They never released anything, but I spent years recording lots of material.
AM: All those recordings exist so who owns them now?
MB: Warner Bros. bought them. When I first signed with them, they wanted to own everything I had previously recorded.
AM: You were first widely known as a Patsy Cline type singer with the show you did. What’s it like being compared to an icon?
MB: When you do a show like that you do get constantly compared and I am honored to be compared to Patsy Cline. Every singer who has ever come to Nashville, at least in the past, wanted to be compared to Patsy Cline.
AM: I think Patsy Cline music is still relevant.
MB: I do too. I do wonder if the younger generation is listening to Patsy Cline. I hope they are because she will teach them how to sing. You have to listen to good singers to learn how to sing.
AM: So, you were listening to Patsy Cline as a child.
MB: And learning how to sing and not just from her. I love big-voiced singers. Every now and then I will like a singer who is subtler and more nuanced, but I really like dynamic singers that can sing that way but can also belt it out.
AM: Can you name a couple of artists you like?
MB: Connie Francis, Tammy Wynette, Linda Ronstadt and even Kate Smith and Dinah Washington.
Photo: Alan Mercer
AM: You have a soulful voice.
MB: Thank you. I started out singing Gospel.
AM: Well that does it!
MB: That does it. I want to record a Gospel record.
AM: Speaking of recording new music…
MB: I’ve got a new album coming out Sept 21 on Thirty Tigers.
AM: What style of music is it?
MB: I guess it falls under the Americana category. Anything that isn’t straight ahead Country, Rap or Pop falls into a murky area. It’s got a rootsy, bluesy kind of R&B sound. It’s not really Country but I’ve played classic Country for so long that I’ve proven that I love Country music.
AM: Right.
MB: I just wanted to do something a little different.
AM: It’s a natural for you to be a soul and bluesy singer.
MB: I think so. There might be some people who hear my new record and think it’s completely different, but it really isn’t. It’s so very much me.
AM: How do you define your career so far for anyone who doesn’t know anything about you?
MB: I’d say my career has been filled with peaks and valleys. I’ve never had a big hit and never sold platinum level albums, but I have had longevity. I’ve never done anything else.
AM: You will always be around because you have the talent and the substance for longevity. One hit wonders fade fast.
MB: The songs aren’t what they used to be. In the old days you could have a couple top ten hits and have a 50-year career. You can’t do that anymore.
AM: What is the title of the new album?
MB: It’s titled ‘Strange Conversation.’
AM: Who are your producers?
MB: Doug Lancio and Marco Giovino. They have worked with Patty Griffin, John Hiatt, Robert Plant and Tom Jones.
AM: Are you happy with the outcome?
MB: I am really happy with it. I think it’s important to grow. It was a fun album to make. It was challenging, and I want to do more of that. That’s not to say that I won’t record a classic Country album with strings at some point.
Photo: Alan Mercer
AM: You can do anything you want from now on. Is you contract with Thirty Tigers a one album deal?
MB: Yes, anymore that’s what they all are. I actually have my own record company called Dame Productions that I own with my attorney, Suzanne Kessler. We also did this with the Cracker Barrel albums. We did the ‘Winter Wonderland’ and the ‘Don Gibson’ album and then we licensed them to Cracker Barrel and Rounder so we make the record and then make the deal with the record company.
AM: I love your Don Gibson Tribute album! How did that even come about?
MB: I met Don a few years before he died and got to know him. We became good friends. He wanted to go back into the studio and sing with me and with the Jordanaires. Every once in a while, he would tell me he wished I’d record an album of his songs. I sang a lot of his songs on the Opry and they would tune in and listen. So, after he died I made it a point to do that.
AM: I really like it.
MB: I’m really glad that I made it.
AM: I’d love to hear your take on many songwriters. I’d love you to leave a big body of work when you’re gone from earth.
MB: Well if you ever meet an oil baron who is looking to invest in the arts…(Laughter) It takes money.
AM: It does take some money! Do you have any goals or are you happy to ride life for now?
MB: I just want to keep working. I don’t think about awards or hit records. They would be nice, and I would love it but I do not feel like my life won’t be complete if I don’t win anything. I just want to play live shows and make records, have a good time with good experiences and work with people I like. I just want to keep doing it.
AM: That’s it. You just want to keep doing it. It’s that simple.
Photo: Alan Mercer
To learn more about mandy Barnett visit her website https://www.mandybarnett.com/