Oct. 16, 2020
For Immediate Release

MANDY BARNETT PREMIERES MUSIC VIDEO FOR
“I LOVE A RAINY NIGHT” ON WSM’S “COFFEE, COUNTRY & CODY” FEATURING A CAMEO FROM BOOTS, HER POMERANIAN PUPPY

Eddie Rabbitt Smash Celebrates 40th Anniversary on Nov. 8
Barnett Performs on Grand Ole Opry Saturday

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Photo Credit: Erika Rock

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.”

About Mandy Barnett: Mandy Barnett has been called a “song’s best friend” for her interpretive skill and her devotion to classic country, R&B, and popular standards. Her formidable talents and advocacy for the music she loves have taken her to prestigious music venues in major U.S. and international cities. Since first gaining national prominence at 18 in the starring role in “Always…Patsy Cline” at the famed Ryman Auditorium, Barnett has graced numerous television and major movie soundtracks. She is a frequent guest at the Grand Ole Opry and has released a variety of critically-acclaimed albums including her eponymous debut for Asylum Records; I’ve Got a Right to Cry, guided by Sire Records founder Seymour Stein and produced by Country Music Hall of Fame member and Nashville Sound pioneer Owen Bradley; a holiday collection Winter Wonderland; the Cline-inspired Sweet Dreams; I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson; the Americana-leaning  Strange Conversation; and her latest, A Nashville Songbook, which features the pop and country standards that made Music City famous. Barnett debuted her “Nashville Songbook” repertoire with the Nashville Symphony in 2016 and has since performed it with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. She made her New York City cabaret debut in 2019 at Feinstein’s/54 Below, performing an acoustic version of her “Nashville Songbook” show, along with a duet of George and Ira Gershwin’s “How Long Has This Been Going On” with Michael Feinstein who said, “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.”

For more information, visit mandybarnett.com.
For information about Melody Place, visit melodyplacemusic.com.

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Media Contact:
Wendy Pearl
Wendy Pearl Public Relations
wendy@wendypearlpr.com