Why Barbara Mandrell can pick more than most of us here

[Peter Dollard]

The most evident thing I saw in that video clip is an abscence of any tension. She could have been playing the song in her practice room for all she cared. What is illustrated here is that children who learn young do not have the same fears that adults do. Certainly it helped that she had Brother Norm and a musical family around her but as he said he would show something to her once and she would learn it. To be a child without all the clutter that comes with adulthood is a very powerful learning tool.

[chris ivey]

yes, pete...our adulthood is quite cluttered, isn't it....what've you been doing lately?
i found the banjo pictures quite humorous, personally.

[Tim Harr]

She is great! I wonder if she still plays regularly..keeping her chops up?


Also, Ray Cash (JR's father) in the video looks totally bored!


Must not be a steel guitar fan?

enjoyed it.

[Doug Beaumier]

I deleted the image that I had posted. Sorry if I offended anyone.

About Barbara Mandrell... I saw/heard her play Steel Guitar Rag live back in the early 1970's at a country fair here in New England. She was excellent, but she only played steel for about 2 minutes of the entire show. Mostly she sang. The band played a couple of instrumentals, and Barbara played sax, pedal steel guitar, and b^xj0... jumping from one to the other. She had a lot of energy, that's for sure. I would have liked to hear more steel, but what I heard sounded excellent. Barbara retired from the music biz in 1997, according to her web site.

[Brett Day]

I believe Norm Hamlet was Barbara's teacher. I knew he was one steel player who had taught her to play steel. She's an amazing steel player

Brett