I've Got a Right to Cry

This Mandy Barnett CD is sure to get pegged as a Patsy Cline karaoke project--for one thing, because it was the last project of Cline's producer, the late and great Owen Bradley, and, for another, because Barnett got her break playing Cline in a stage play. With her sultry, powerful voice, Barnett can play the part to the hilt, but the Patsy connection only tells part of the story. The best cut here, "Funny, Familiar, Forgotten Feelings," is actually closer to the steel-driven '70s work Bradley did with Conway Twitty. Throughout the cuts pay tribute to a long tradition of catchy country, from Eddy Arnold and Carl Smith to Don Gibson and Hank Jr. But it's Patsy that Barnett most often channels. So, "Don't Forget to Cry," the title track, and others purr and swoon away like "Crazy," just as you'd expect, but they come off as trying too hard, too busy, slightly manic, full-tilt from note one. Still, Barnett's Patsy impersonation is really something. And until she finally lets us hear her own true voice, I've Got a Right is a charming countrypolitan trip down memory lane.