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Article on CD inlay
She's the "Queen of Blue-Eyed Soul." The reigning country media star and the singer of some of country's favorite tunes. She's also a musical prodigy who learned to read music before she learned to read the English language. She would goon to be named the Country Music Association's Female Vocalist of the Year twice, and was the first artist to win the CMA's Entertainer of the Year Award two consecutive years. She's won two Grammy awards, nine People's Choice Awards (including being named Favorite All Around Female Entertainer six years in a row) and six American Music Awards for Favorite Female Country Music Vocalist. Truckers have named her their favorite singer, as have USO members, Radio & Records and US Magazine.
Barbara was encouraged in a musical path by her father, Irby, a music store proprietor, and musician. When she was still a child, Irby Mandrell took his daughter to a musical trade show in Chicago where she dully impressed industry legends such as Chet Atkins and "Uncle" Joe Maphis with her talented playing of several instruments, including the pedal steel. The Mandrell family founded its own band and went on the road, Barbara eventually played Nashville, where she signed with CBS Records. She became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1972, starred in her own national television variety show, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, and was soon one of the most recognizable entertainers the world.
Barbara Mandrell is also a risk-taking artist, one who has never shied away from blues-edged material or the cheating genre songs that only men usually recorded. She's known as the woman who brought blue-eyed soul to country. and this outstanding collection shows why. She can take a straight-ahead country song and add her inimitable blues stylings to create an entire new category of music. Here she places her stamp on standards such a "I Love You Because," "The Nearness Of You" and "The Key's In The Mailbox" to inspirational material such as "I'll Leave Something Good Behind" and her huge hit, "I Wish That I Could Fall In Love Today." This the music that made Barbara Mandrell a legend. The music that helped her make country "cool," and encouraged female country performers make previously unknown strides.
--Patsi Cox
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