Alphabetical Listening: Barnett & Barton
Two gals from the past resurface in the boom box!
In the 90s sometime I heard about Mandy Barnett, who had been playing Patsy Cline in a Nashville show called "Always, Patsy Cline." I got her first, self-titled album at good ol' Sounds on St. Marks. It was a fun collection of new songs that sounded new and some that sounded old, all sung in her swoony, swoopy-yet-controlled voice. I was obsessed with the sleeve photos: in one she's walking down a rainy country road wearing a 1950s faux-leopard coat, and looking back over her shoulder through a perfectly corkscrewed brunette mane. She managed to be both normal-looking and incredibly glamorous, and that was really inspirational. A couple of years later I picked up her second record, I've Got a Right to Cry, which was like a whole album of vintage coats. It was mostly little-known classic tunes, and just two old-sounding new ones. It just didn't catch with me. But then we got to it in our Alphabetical Listening recently, and it's turns out its amazing.
Her voice became even more beautiful; still with the control and tone of Patsy, but with new-found sweetness and vulnerability. I love her version of Porter Wagoner's "That's My Trademark." And I found out she was just 23 when she recorded it! She even got Patsy's producer Owen Bradley to do it (one of the last things he did; he died midway through the project and his brother took it over). Since, it seems she's been working a lot but hasn't put out another major album.
Another "B" we spun is Lou Ann Barton. Also back in the 90s, a friend played me Dreams Come True, a collaboration album on the Antone's label with Barton, fellow blueswoman Angela Strehli and cajun music queen Marcia Ball. (A glance at Amazon shows that folks are still going crazy over this record.) My favorite tracks were Lou Ann's, especially her shattering take on Ike & Tina's "I Idolize You." She was just flat-out blues, with lots of growling and cigarette smoke and slurring and nothing whatsoever hidden.
Oh, Mandy and Lou Ann, please put out new albums right away.
In the 90s sometime I heard about Mandy Barnett, who had been playing Patsy Cline in a Nashville show called "Always, Patsy Cline." I got her first, self-titled album at good ol' Sounds on St. Marks. It was a fun collection of new songs that sounded new and some that sounded old, all sung in her swoony, swoopy-yet-controlled voice. I was obsessed with the sleeve photos: in one she's walking down a rainy country road wearing a 1950s faux-leopard coat, and looking back over her shoulder through a perfectly corkscrewed brunette mane. She managed to be both normal-looking and incredibly glamorous, and that was really inspirational. A couple of years later I picked up her second record, I've Got a Right to Cry, which was like a whole album of vintage coats. It was mostly little-known classic tunes, and just two old-sounding new ones. It just didn't catch with me. But then we got to it in our Alphabetical Listening recently, and it's turns out its amazing.
Her voice became even more beautiful; still with the control and tone of Patsy, but with new-found sweetness and vulnerability. I love her version of Porter Wagoner's "That's My Trademark." And I found out she was just 23 when she recorded it! She even got Patsy's producer Owen Bradley to do it (one of the last things he did; he died midway through the project and his brother took it over). Since, it seems she's been working a lot but hasn't put out another major album.
Another "B" we spun is Lou Ann Barton. Also back in the 90s, a friend played me Dreams Come True, a collaboration album on the Antone's label with Barton, fellow blueswoman Angela Strehli and cajun music queen Marcia Ball. (A glance at Amazon shows that folks are still going crazy over this record.) My favorite tracks were Lou Ann's, especially her shattering take on Ike & Tina's "I Idolize You." She was just flat-out blues, with lots of growling and cigarette smoke and slurring and nothing whatsoever hidden.
I also found a live show on the now defunct TNN (I think it was "Texas Connection") with the three of them on it. She was just as I expected, totally miniskirted and strutting and crazy. (I thought I had saved the old VHS of this, but I just spent 20 minutes getting my fingers dusty looking for it to no avail. That's it, I'm throwing all the old tapes out.)
When I got the only solo CD of hers I could find, 1982's Old Enough, it seemed kind of tame by comparison. I must have have listened to it just once or twice. But putting it on now, I'm able to appreciate it finally. It was recorded at Muscle Shoals with amazing players, and produced by Jerry Wexler and Glenn Frey (!). Her voice is in fine form, and she does one of my favorite Marshall Crenshaw songs, "Brand New Lover." I think somehow her personality got sort of muted in the production and she wasn't able to really get across.
Here's a somewhat wobbly video of her recently, but you'll get the picture.
Amazingly, she too hasn't put out another major record since the "Dreams" collaboration.
Oh, Mandy and Lou Ann, please put out new albums right away.
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