Eddie Rabbitt Smash Celebrates 40th Anniversary on Nov. 8
Barnett Performs on Grand Ole Opry Saturday
NASHVILLE, TN – Nashville Sound chanteuse Mandy Barnett premiered her sweetly nostalgic music video for “I Love A Rainy Night” today on WSM’s “Coffee, Country & Cody.” The video features a cameo from her new Pomeranian puppy, Boots. See it HERE.
“What fun to include my precious baby boy Boots in the video! He’s a natural showoff and loves music, so having him onscreen was a no brainer,” said Barnett. “He was trotting around during the shoot, playing with director Erika Rock while she was filming, so I had to periodically pick him up and sing to him just to get him to leave her alone! Erika captured those moments.”
The song is featured on A Nashville Songbook, Barnett’s debut album for label Melody Place, distributed by BMG. The album, which is a collection of pop and country standards that solidified Music City’s reputation as a creative hub for popular music, is available now. Listen HERE.
Barnett takes a breezy approach to the song, including the signature hand claps and finger snaps. The song was recorded by Eddie Rabbitt and released on Nov. 8, 1980. It was a No. 1 record on the Billboard Hot Country Singles, Hot 100, and Adult Contemporary Singles charts. Written by Rabbitt, Even Stevens, and David Malloy, the song unseated Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” for the top spot on the Hot 100 in 1981.
The song and album, which was inspired by Barnett’s popular “Nashville Songbook” U.S. and international concert tour, were produced by noted producer Fred Mollin (Jimmy Webb, Johnny Mathis, Kris Kristofferson), President of Melody Place.
Barnett will be performing music from A Nashville Songbook Saturday during the Grand Ole Opry’s anniversary celebration “95 Years of Great Opry Songs,” a highlight of Country Music Month. Opry shows are broadcast live at 8:00 PM/ET (7:00 PM/CT) on Circle and Gray TV stations, DISH Studio Channel 102, Sling TV, and other TV affiliates in addition to a companion live stream on Circle All Access Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The Opry can also be heard on 650 WSM-AM, wsmonline.com, and SiriusXM. Visit Opry.com for more information.
Barnett’s history with the Opry and its parent company, Ryman Hospitality Properties, is long-standing. She first gained national prominence as the original star of the stage musical “Always…Patsy Cline” at the company’s famed Ryman Auditorium and has performed on the Opry hundreds of times.
The 13 tracks on A Nashville Songbook were originally recorded by artists as diverse as Roy Orbison, Elvis Presley, Tammy Wynette and George Jones, Hank Williams, Boy George, Anne Murray, Brenda Lee, and Nazareth; and were written by some of the format’s most important tunesmiths including Boudleaux Bryant, Harlan Howard, Orbison, Williams, and Kristofferson.
The album has been lauded by critics and embraced by fans: “Barnett’s vocal skills are such that she could take an ordinary song and make it shine, but when she chooses ones that are as worthy of her talents as these are, we are talking about something of a completely different order” wrote No Depression. “In terms of tone, delivery, nuance and heart, she is the Judy Garland of our time,” from American Songwriter. “An exquisite singer who reveres the depth of Nashville’s music history, Mandy Barnett has finally made the album her audience has been waiting for,” opined CMT. “Barnett uses her well-honed artistic instincts not to just put these songs across, she combines it with her incredible pipes to grand slam them out of the ballpark,” from Elmore Magazine. And from Music Row, simply “Exquisite.”
For more information, visit mandybarnett.com.
For information about Melody Place, visit melodyplacemusic.com.