Mandy Barnett Delights Audience at The Dixie

HUNTINGDON (December 21) — Grand Ole Opry member Mandy Barnett celebrated the warmth and joy of the holiday season, featuring classic ballads like “White Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” and “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” along with spirited standards like “Jingle Bell Rock,” “A Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Marshmallow World,” and “Winter Wonderland” at The Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center on Saturday evening.

Barnett takes her cue from the enduring Christmas repertoire of the golden era, updated with her soaring, sparkling vocals. Her holiday music has been featured in several television shows and the NYC Wall Street 100th Christmas Tree Lighting celebration, and is sure to put you in the holiday spirit!

Called the “Nashville Sound Chanteuse” (Music Row) and “the Judy Garland of our time” (American Songwriter), Grand Ole Opry member 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.”

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 marker. Erected in Barnett’s hometown, Crossville, the marker celebrates Barnett’s contributions in making Tennessee the “Soundtrack of America.”

Barnett 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 Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Brenda Lee). 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”; 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, which Variety named one of the best albums of 2021.

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 recent 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.