> Mandy Barnett Has No Tears in Her
> Beer
>
> Three years ago, when she was just twenty
> years old, Mandy Barnett was prepared to
> shake the foundations of country music with
> the release of her self-titled debut album. With
> a powerful voice of stunning intensity and
> precision that seemed to be channeling both
>
> Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, Mandy was
> declared the Next Big Thing in country music.
> But before the first clap could hit, her thunder
> was immediately calmed by the Next Bigger
> Thing, the thirteen-year-old LeAnn Rimes. Now
> she's back, and this time Barnett's a force to
> be reckoned with. With a legendary producer
> on board and a remarkable, nostalgic wonder
> of an album, I've Got a Right to Cry, Mandy
> proves she doesn't care what Nashville thinks.
>
> Reintroducing the singer to Nashville is the
> late, great Owen Bradley, legendary producer
> of Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Widely
> credited for the growth of the Nashville sound,
> Owen helped to shape Mandy's career,
> grounding her in the traditional golden days
> and ways of country's past. With Owen's
> brother, Harold, and nephew, Bobby, Mandy
> consulted notes left behind by Owen to finish
> the album. And now, with the surefire backing
> power of nine elderly gents that sound like the
> Grand Ole Opry incarnate but look like
> Lawrence Welk's orchestra, the
> cigarette-smoking, beer-swilling,
> twenty-three-year-old beauty is heralding a
> return to country music's good old days and
> ready to give Nashville a good slap upside the
> head.
>
> Your songs definitely conjure up an era
> when the likes of Hank Williams and Patsy
> Cline dominated the country music circuit.
> Who inspires you musically?
>
> I've had several musical influences. I started
> out in, being from the south with southern
> gospel music, singing in the church, and a lot
> of the singing groups from the fifties, like the
> Blackwood Brothers and the Stamps and
> different groups like that. Then, later on, I got
> into Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Brenda Lee, and
> Wilma Burgess. To put it in a nutshell, the
> Nashville sound has been one of the biggest
> influences on my life and on my music, and
> not just Patsy Cline. When I say the Nashville
> sound, I mean from Patsy Cline to Ernest
> Tubb to Conway Twitty. The thing about the
> Nashville sound is it's a perfect blend of pop
> standards and country. So I listened a lot to
> Ella Fitzgerald and that kind of thing. And
> some swing.
>
> You make a striking image fronting a
> gang of older musicians. What's your
> all-male band like?
>
> They're great! They're the nicest guys I've ever
> known. And there's some of them I've worked
> with for years and years. There's one guy in
> the band, Jason Bells. We played shows
> together when we were about nine and ten
> years old. Incredible banjo player, incredible
> rhythm player. And Harold Bradley, who
> co-produced the record with me, and
> [drummer] Buddy Harman [Cline, Johnny
> Cash, Roger Miller] ... They're two living
> legends.
>
> Owen Bradley was responsible for some
> of country's biggest hits. How did he help
> shape your music?
>
> The thing that was just so inspiring about
> Owen was that he just picked such great
> songs, and he just really knew how to get
> inside of you and pick the right kind of songs
> for you and the right kind of arrangement. He
> was all in it to make you sound like you're
> supposed to sound, to find the perfect sound
> for you.
>
> What is the most important thing you
> learned from him?
>
> Always to do great songs no matter what
> people are doing, no matter what trends there
> are, no matter what gimmicks people have.
> Always do quality music.
>
> How do you pick songs that you want to
> sing? Before Owen helped, but does the
> label select the songs now?
>
> No, I usually pick most of the songs and when
> we were doing the record, I brought a lot of
> songs to the table. I always had a good ear for
>
> what I can sing -- it's just finding it. I've gone
> down to the archives at the Country Music Hall
> of Fame, and I've gone to record stores, and
> I've gone to publishing companies and looked
> at their older catalogs. Because, in Nashville,
> really what I'm doing isn't exactly what's
> popular right now, so the writers aren't writing
> a slew of songs that sound like "I've Got a
> Right to Cry." I have to go back a little bit. I try
> not to find songs that have been cut to death,
> songs that are so obvious. I try to find songs
> that ... well, there are some of those album
> cuts that really didn't maybe have a chance, or
> if they were hits, it was years and years ago,
> and they haven't been heard from since.
>
> You played the role of Patsy Cline for over
> two years in the musical tribute Always ...
> Patsy Cline. Are the comparisons to her
> getting burdensome?
>
> No. I think that when people tell me that I
> sound similar to Patsy Cline that they can tell
> that I've been influenced by her, and it's true --
> I have been influenced by her tremendously,
> but I'm not a Patsy Cline imitator. I'm pretty
> much just doing what everybody else does.
> That's how we all learn to sing, and how we
> learn to talk, by listening to other people.
>
> Any interest in writing your own songs?
>
> Not really. It's something that I've tried to do
> that I don't feel like I'm very good at. I feel that
> my strong point is interpreting other people's
> words. I don't feel like I need to beat my brains
> out trying to write lyrics 'cause I love to sing
> great songs, and the last thing I want to do is
> sing ... my own s----y songs (laughs).
>
> Okay, last question: Being a southern
> woman, how would you classify yourself,
> mint julep or cold beer?
>
> Cold beer! (Laughs)
>
