Mandy Barnett, Grand Ole Opry member and the original star of the jukebox musical Always…Patsy Cline at the historic Ryman, brings her mesmerizing voice to the Franklin Theatre, celebrating what would have been Patsy Cline’s birthday. Barnett takes you on a sparkling journey performing Cline’s greatest hits (including “Sweet Dreams,” “Crazy,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Walking After Midnight,” and more), together with other selections. Enjoy a night of enchanting entertainment, celebrating Patsy Cline’s enduring legacy and iconic songs of our time, as performed by one of today’s premier vocalists.
Called the “Nashville Sound Chanteuse” (Music Row) and “the Judy Garland of our time” (American Songwriter), Mandy Barnett has built a reputation for her commanding voice and unwavering devotion to classic country and popular standards. Barnett started singing at five years-old and has enchanted listeners around the globe with her world-class vocals and musical chameleon qualities ever since. Of this singer’s singer, songwriter’s dream, and audience favorite, renowned songwriter/artist Jimmy Webb states simply, “Mandy Barnett has a voice for the ages.”
Barnett has released a variety of acclaimed albums, including I’ve Got a Right to Cry, named “Top Country Album” by Rolling Stone in its year of release, produced by Nashville Sound pioneer Owen Bradley (who also produced Cline’s most loved chart-toppers as well as producing Loretta Lynn and Brenda Lee). Rolling Stone continued to honor this landmark album, placing it in 2019 on two of its “best of” lists of seminal classic country works. Other critically lauded Barnett albums are: her self-titled Warner Bros. debut; her Christmas celebration Winter Wonderland; the Cline-inspired Sweet Dreams; I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson, a tribute to her friend and Country Music Hall of Fame member Gibson; Strange Conversation, an Americana blend of roots, pop, and R&B tunes, which AllMusic hailed as the “richest record of her career: surprising, lively, and deeply felt,” and which The Philadelphia Inquirer listed among the best country/roots albums of 2018; 2020’s A Nashville Songbook featuring reimagined, multi-generational pop and country songs that made Nashville famous; and Every Star Above, a Great American Songbook tour de force with orchestral arrangements by the late maestro Sammy Nestico, and named one of the best albums of 2021 by Variety.
In addition to her own albums, Barnett has graced numerous movie and television soundtracks and multi-artist compilations. Barnett’s recordings have been featured in film and television projects starring Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Reese Witherspoon, Matthew Broderick, Sigourney Weaver, Ellen Burstyn, Bill Paxton, SpongeBob SquarePants, and others. Barnett’s musical compilation work includes her duet with Great American Songbook Ambassador Michael Feinstein on his 2022 Gershwin Country collection from Concord Music Group. Of Barnett, Feinstein says, “Few singers have the gifts inhabiting the soul of Mandy Barnett. Her blessed voice connects to the truth of every note she sings. She’s simply one of my favorite voices.”
Barnett’s television appearances include “The Tonight Show,” “The Late Show,” “CBS Sunday Morning,” PBS’s “Sessions at West 54th,” PBS’s “Bluegrass Underground,” and numerous other programs.
In 2020, Barnett came full circle with her East Tennessee roots. She joined a select group of music luminaries running the gamut from Johnny Cash to Taylor Swift in being honored by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development with a Tennessee Music Pathways historical marker. Erected in Barnett’s hometown, Crossville, the marker celebrates Barnett’s contributions in making Tennessee the “Soundtrack of America.”
Among the many publications praising Barnett's talents, the Chicago Tribune calls Barnett “a torch singer in the grandest sense of the word.” Other major media likewise extol Barnett’s superlative vocals, “natural musicality” (People), “big, silky, expressive voice” (Billboard), and “vocal finesse” (New York Times). USA Today calls Barnett one of Nashville’s “finest classic-country and torch singers,” while the Austin Chronicle notes that “when people start talking about Mandy Barnett, eventually the word ‘amazing' gets used.
FT Live: Classic Country & Americana sponsored by Jackson.
