(Editor’s note: I moved from an apartment into a house starting January 1st, 2020, and I had to toss all my CDs into a big garbage bag during the move. The idea for this feature is I write a review about each CD as I unpack that bag, one CD at a time, and rank them.)

The Seventeenth CD Out of the Bag

Track listings

1. Planet of Love; 2. Maybe; 3. Rainy Days; 4. Three Days; 5. Baby Don’t You Know; 6. Now That’s Alright with Me; 7. A Simple I Love You; 8. I’ll Just Pretend; 9. What’s Good for You; 10. Wayfaring Stranger.

Snapshot review

The self-titled album of vocal powerhouse Mandy Barnett was a torch-fueled debut released in 1996 that inexplicably failed to ignite mainstream country radio. Granted, Mandy Barnett was released in the midst of Shania Twain’s remarkable run of hits and during the same year as George Strait’s Blue Clear Sky and LeAnn Rimes’ Blue albums. But seriously, how did this gem get lost in the shuffle?

From the smoldering perfection of her first single “Now That’s Alright with Me” to the jazzy opener “Planet of Love,” Barnett delivers one captivating performance after another. Her song choices for the album were impeccable with tunes by Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell, Kostas, Willie Nelson, Jamie O’Hara, and Kelly Willis.

Before her debut album arrived, Barnett had already gained national prominence as the star of the musical Always … Patsy Cline, and her singing packs the expressive richness of Cline’s, complete with that intangible teardrop of emotion in her voice. I think of Barnett as the Patsy Cline of her generation, and if I had to update my reference, she is the Kelly Clarkson of country music because she can literally sing any song and make it her own.

Mandy Barnett features 10 songs, clocking in at 33 minutes. It’s short but every song is a revelation on some aspect of love and relationships. The radio-friendly “Maybe” is about taking a chance on romance, while the aching “Rainy Days” is about missing someone far away. Barnett transforms the Willie Nelson selection “Three Days” into a bouncy torch song (Is that even possible?) about someone who accepts that there will always be “three days filled with tears and sorrow. Yesterday, today and tomorrow.” “Baby Don’t You Know” is a classic country weeper about yearning for someone who’s moved on: “You walk down the street with a smile on your face, hand in hand with somebody new. From the window above, I look down through my tears, wondering why you treat me so cruel.”

In the piano ballad “A Simple I Love You,” Barnett tenderly describes the power of those three words. “I’ll Just Pretend” features her honey voice dripping with the longing of unrequited love as she sings: “Pretending you still love me the way you used to do. Pretending that the promises you made will still come true.” In “What’s Good for You,” Barnett delivers an ultimatum because “what’s good for you ain’t good for me.” The album’s finale is the Psalms-based spiritual “Wayfaring Stranger,” and like all the previous songs, Barnett gets to the emotional core with her interpretation, capturing the weariness of someone trying to survive in this world on the belief their loved ones wait for them on the other side.

While never making her mark on mainstream country radio, Barnett enjoys a successful career as a well-respected member of the Grand Ole Opry. She followed up her debut album with the critically acclaimed I’ve Got a Right to Cry and continues to carry the torch for classic country with stellar tribute albums to Patsy Cline and Don Gibson, while also stretching her own boundaries with a tribute to Billie Holiday’s Lady in Satin album. But after listening to Barnett for the past 27 years, my favorite song remains her first single, “Now That’s Alright with me.”

My favorite song

This was an easy choice for me — “Now That’s Alright with Me.” There’s just something about the combination of the groovy vibe of the music and Barnett’s smoldering urgency and confident delivery that makes this song an all-time favorite. Listen to her sing these lines:

“Oh, any time or any place
Wherever we may be.
We’re wild and we’re young and we’re free to love
And that’s alright,
That’s alright with me.”

And the metaphorical symbols in the lyrics are so perfect and so perfectly delivered. Like the best poetry, the song uses the river, the sea, and the stars to encapsulate the passion of love between two people in a truly authentic way. I’m listening to the song for the ninth time in a row as I write this review, and it absolutely stands the test of time nearly three decades later.

My favorite lines of my favorite song

“Love me like a river, babe.
I’ll love you like the sea.
Love me any time at all
‘Cause that’s alright with me.”