Mandy Barnett Releases ‘Blue Blue Day’
Mandy Barnett has released 'Blue Blue Day,' from her latest album, 'I Can’t Stop Loving You: The Songs of Don Gibson.' Alison Krauss joins Barnett on the song, which is the debut single from the album.
Gibson included the song on his first album, 'Oh Lonesome Me,' which also became his second No. 1 hit.
“Don, his wife Bobbi, and I became good friends a few years before he passed away,” Barnett explains. “He asked me to consider recording an album of his songs, and of course I said yes. He wrote some of the most-loved songs in country music — who wouldn’t want to record a Don Gibson song?"
Barnett released the album exclusively at all Cracker Barrel Old Country Store locations. She says the collection of tunes was her way to honor a man who helped shape her own career.
“Don didn’t especially like the song ‘Blue Blue Day,’” Barnett tells CMT Edge. “It was a big hit, but he said that was his least favorite song he’d ever written. He tried to do it a couple of different ways, and he said he never could really figure it out ... I wish that Don could’ve heard it sung as a ballad because it just changes the whole feel of that song. It actually makes it more sad. Originally, he did it very fast. I think that he absolutely would have loved this.”