Barbara Mandell on PSG

Dennis Saydak · Post by **Dennis Saydak** » 15 Jun 2023 5:46 am

Barbara rocking it up on the Marty Robins show:
Starts at about 16:30 into the video ..............

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X1erinGA8w

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 15 Jun 2023 7:07 am

I saw a video of her going around and playing every instrument in the band, quite a gal.

Erv

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 16 Jun 2023 7:02 am

One of those 70's shoes where the band is hidden. For some reason, they wanted them to not have any exposure. Only the singers and MC got much camera time. If Barbara wasn't a singer, she would have never got on the show to play steel guitar.

She's a good player and a good singer. I liked her country stuff like Midnight Oil.

RC

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 18 Jun 2023 8:54 am

Am I 'confirmed crazy' or does it seem that all of the videos showing Barbara playing PSG (including those from the old Mandrell Sisters TV show) show her playing the C6th neck (and playing exceptionally well at that).

As Norm Hamlett was Barbara's primary teacher, wonder if she also learned E9th......anyone seen any videos of Barbara playing E9th?

And I agree with Erv Niehaus, when Barbara was winning all those 'Entertainer of the Year' Awards, she could sing like an Angel, play all the various instruments, dance up a storm, and who knows what else!

Things sure have changed for that award....

Rick Campbell · Post by **Rick Campbell** » 18 Jun 2023 4:20 pm

Ron Funk wrote:Am I 'confirmed crazy' or does it seem that all of the videos showing Barbara playing PSG (including those from the old Mandrell Sisters TV show) show her playing the C6th neck (and playing exceptionally well at that).

As Norm Hamlett was Barbara's primary teacher, wonder if she also learned E9th......anyone seen any videos of Barbara playing E9th?

And I agree with Erv Niehaus, when Barbara was winning all those 'Entertainer of the Year' Awards, she could sing like an Angel, play all the various instruments, dance up a storm, and who knows what else!

Things sure have changed for that award....

I’ve noticed the same thing. Her playing always seems to be a show tune like SGR or some boogie woogie song. I’m impressed at how well she plays when it’s not her main thing to do. She must have been playing a lot in her spare time to keep her chops so good. I figure she must play some E9 also, and likely plays it well. Unfortunately for us, the producers of these shows only have her play as a novelty. You never see them
feature the staff steel player. I think that pretty much ended with Hal Rugg and Buddy Spicher on the Wilburn Brothers Show.

RC

Dave Magram · Post by **Dave Magram** » 20 Jun 2023 11:22 pm

Seems like Ms. Mandrell knew her way around the E9 neck, too...

Del Reeves And Barbara Mandrell - Crazy Arms ( Barbara Mandrell On Steel Guitar ) [also "Going Down, Down, Down"]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaMBnvhLlnI

There is an interview somewhere on YouTube where Barbara tells about playing pedal steel in a country band when she was only 11 years old, and Joe Maphis saw her and hired her.

She took lessons from Norm Hamlett, who had learned pick-blocking from Vance Terry.

-Dave

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 21 Jun 2023 7:51 pm

Hey thanks for that clip Dave Magram - that's one I hadn't seen prior / Barbara playing a single neck Sho-Bud.... loafer maybe / with four floor pedals and no knee levers.

The video makes it appear that her E9th pedals were shifted quite a bit to the right to perhaps make it easier for her (and her short stature) to reach the floor E9th pedals.

Thanks for the clip

Ron

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 24 Jun 2023 4:45 am

Here's the guitar she got for her 12th Birthday...

.

Dave Magram · Post by **Dave Magram** » 25 Jun 2023 6:55 am

Here's "Barbara Mandrell's Final Concert", during which she plays steel guitar, lead guitar, sax, banjo, dances complex choreography, and sings beautifully in every genre you can imagine. She probably has more talent in her little finger than a dozen of today's country stars have all together!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfZFMzY_D4o

No wonder she won "Entertainer of the Year" several times in her 38-year career!

Bobby Black, who toured with Barbara, once told me that her shows never had a second of dead air. She worked hard to put on a great show every concert, and expected her band to do the same.

And to top it off, he said that Barbara was one of the nicest people he ever worked with.

- Dave

Ron Funk · Post by **Ron Funk** » 27 Jun 2023 6:47 pm

Great photos David -

Here's one I took at CM HOF a few years ago.

Did the 'handle' on the front neck's changer enable a different tuning?

Unfortunately, the underneath of the guitar was completely gutted.

Ron

David Wright · Post by **David Wright** » 28 Jun 2023 2:20 am

Thanks Ron, great picture... Yes, on the handel.. kinda makes you wonder, why ..already 4 tunings...

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 28 Jun 2023 7:09 am

She plays so well!

I once saw a p/p Emmons that had belonged to Barbara. It had the front apron decorated with, if memory serves me, some sort of western theme.

This guitar was one of maybe nine Emmons that this NC collector had. The alleged Mandrel guitar had white tape on pedal 5; it was said to be there as a 'guide' but nothing I've heard of her playing suggests that she'd have needed such a thing.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 28 Jun 2023 9:02 am

I saw Barbara play live in 1976 at The Big E (Fair) in Massachusetts. (no relation to our Big E

). She had an 11-piece band and the highlight of the show was "Steel Guitar Rag". She jumped from instrument to instrument, playing steel, sax, banjo, bass, mandolin, etc. When she played the steel and smiled at the audience most of the time, rarely looking down at the strings. I was pretty impressed with that at the time! That was in the era of small stages, when you could walk up to the edge of the stage for a good look.