Keith Urban is the current Entertainer of the Year for both the CMAs and the ACMs, but he’s quick to cite other great country music entertainers who came before him.
While discussing his new song “We Were,” Keith referenced one of his favorite entertainers.
“Barbara Mandrell would be the first one I would think of as far as just an all-around performer. You know, playing a hundred instruments and much like Dolly Parton is gifted in so many ways to be a performer. She’s charismatic and funny and insightful, a great singer and engaging and personable. All the things you’d want in an Entertainer. Somebody who really cares about the audience. So she’d probably be the first one I would think of.”
Barbara Mandrell had a variety show on NBC in the early 1980’s, and was a constant presence on the country music charts. She was made a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. She’s also in the Musicans Hall of Fame in Nashville.
Barbara in 2016 on winning “Entertainer of the Year” twice in a row:
She’s has been “very retired” in the last twenty years. However, after a family member told her of Urban’s adoration of her, she responded that her “heart was full.”
-Nancy Brooks