Mandy Barnett talks about her career plans as a teenager in a radio interview from 1991

Back in July 1991, Crossville native Mandy Barnett was 15 years old and very early in her professional music career.  Mandy had been singing around Crossville and Cumberland County since a very early age and at the time of this radio interview promoting an appearance at the Cumberland County Playhouse she was on the cusp of launching a music career after working summers at Dollywood and being invited on Dolly's TV show.

Mandy has a new album Every Star Above coming out May 7.  

At a young age, Mandy Barnett wanted

to put her hometown on the map.

That wish came true with this marker

on the courthouse lawn as part of the

Tennessee Music Pathways.

(Photo by Jim Young)

Just a few years after this interview, Mandy performed in a play that really put her on the map in 1994 when she originated the role of Patsy Cline on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Always, Patsy Cline.  

This interview/news story about a then upcoming show with Mandy and others at the Cumberland County Playhouse was originally broadcast on WEGE-FM radio in Crossville July 17, 1991 almost 30 years ago. 

Mandy has long had a following of country music entertainers and professionals and she talks about producer Gail Davies who she was working with at the time of the interview.  

Since the interview was recorded, Mandy has put out 8 of her own albums and appeared on a number of other projects with an amazing array of artists and numerous singles.  A new album is also in the works currently and the first single from that album is soon to be released. In the interview Mandy mentions her goal of putting her hometown of Crossville on the map, something she has certainly done.  Just last year, the Tennessee Department of Tourism recognized Mandy with a stop on the Tennessee Music Pathways on the Cumberland County Courthouse lawn. 

Link to Interview on Soundcloud