An uncompromising singer whose style is rooted in the classic country of Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, and Brenda Lee, Barnett's keen interpretive sense enables her to delve into a song, study the intricacies of its emotional content, and render a powerful performance through her full-bodied voice. Her torchy delivery on her contemporary yet retro-sounding country and pop-tinged material harkens back to the likes of all-time great female singers and timeless sounds.

Mandy has starred as "Patsy Cline" in the musical production Always...Patsy Cline at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on and off since 1994.  Mandy tours regularly in concert and is a frequent guest on the Grand Ole Opry.

She has released critically applauded albums, including her debut "Mandy Barnett," "I've Got a Right to Cry" produced by Owen Bradley, and her Christmas album "Winter Wonderland." Mandy has also been featured on movie soundtracks. Rounder Records will again release "Winter Wonderland" for Christmas 2011.

Mandy's new album "Sweet Dreams" on the Opry Music label features her renditions of songs previously recorded by Patsy Cline.  Along with the hits, Mandy offers stunning versions of Irving Berlin's pop standard "Always" and the Mel Tillis-penned "Strange."  Reviewers of "Sweet Dreams" have heralded Mandy's talents as "one of the most beautiful 'classic country' female voices of all time.  She has total control of her voice and sings effortlessly.  Barnett is a true master of her craft." 

After over fifty years at the most powerful broadcast outlets in country music, Ralph Emery has become the most well-known radio and television talent in country music.  In 2000, he was named country radio’s Greatest Personality. In 2007, Ralph Emery joined Vince Gill and Mel Tillis as they were inducted into the prestigious Country Music Hall of Fame, the highest musical honor a country music artist and industry veteran can attain.

Ralph’s radio and television accomplishments include numerous radio and television talk shows including Opry Star Spotlight, Ralph Emery Show, and Nashville Now.  He was named Country Music Disc Jockey of the Year on six different occasions, and in 1989, Emery was elected to the Country Music DJ Hall of Fame.

Being described as “The Johnny Carson of Cable,” Ralph displays a low-key informality that his audience and guests warm to.  Also, as a longtime member of Nashville’s country music community and a personal friend of many of the stars, he is a comfortable and reassuring presence for country fans in the heartland.  In addition to just about every country artist in the land, other guest appearances on his shows have included George Bush, Bill Clinton, Jay Leno, Lily Tomlin, Jimmy Stewart, Bob Hope, Mickey Rooney, Steve Allen, Jerry Seinfeld, and Dr. Joyce Brothers.  In 1992 the NARAS Board of Governors honored Ralph with an Emmy for his lifetime achievements and contributions to Nashville television.

Currently Ralph Emery can be seen on television live every Monday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern when RFD-TV brings you Ralph Emery Live, a one-hour interview show featuring the stars of country music.

Ralph lives in Nashville, Tennessee.  He shares his home with his wife of forty-three years, Joy, and their two cats, Scooter and Suzette.  Ralph is very proud of his three sons, Steve, Michael, and Kit, who have given him five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Jan Howard has seen her share of ups and downs personally and professionally and has managed to come out on top.

Married at age 15, Jan had three sons before she turned 21. After two divorces, she headed to Los Angeles and took on jobs as a waitress and a secretary to support her family.

Through singer Wynn Stewart she met and later married up-and-coming songwriter Harlan Howard. Although she had no musical training or experience, Harlan convinced her to record demos of his songs, which brought her the attention and encouragement of Johnny Bond and Tex Ritter. In 1959, she and Stewart recorded the duet “Yankee Go Home.” That same year she made her Opry debut; it was one of the first times the $65-a-week secretary had ever sung on stage.

The Howards moved from California to Nashville in 1960. Jan’s first solo single, “The One You Slip Around With,” was a Top 10 hit, and both Billboard and Cash Box magazines named her their Most Promising Country Vocalist.

In 1964, she signed with Decca Records and had another hit in 1965 with “What Makes a Man Wander.” That same year she joined Bill Anderson’s syndicated TV and road show and sang with him regularly on the Opry. For seven years they won many top-duo awards, and she enjoyed her greatest chart success with their duets: “For Loving You” went to No. 1 and was followed by four Top 5 hits.

Jan’s single “My Son,” a song that began as a letter to her son Jimmy in Vietnam, was released just a few weeks before he was killed in action in 1968. She wrote of coping with the tragedies of his death and that of her youngest son David in her 1987 autobiography, Sunshine and Shadow.

A regular guest on the Opry for years, she formally joined the cast in 1971. Jan still tours periodically and continues to work for causes related to military veterans. In 2002, she made her acting debut in Changing Hearts, alongside Faye Dunaway and fellow Opry member Jeannie Seely. In 2005, she was recognized by her home state with her induction into the Missouri Country Music Hall of Fame.

Jeannie Seely’s mother has said that Jeannie was just four when she learned to stretch up, tune the knob on her family’s big console radio to 650 WSM and keep it there. Jeannie Seely is still on the dial at 650 WSM—performing regularly on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry.

By age 11, she was performing on a weekly radio show in nearby Meadville and a few years later turned up on TV in Erie, Pennsylvania.  Years of playing auditoriums, small clubs, and country music parks followed. Moving to California, she worked as a secretary with Liberty and Imperial Records in Hollywood before moving to Nashville in 1965 at the urging of Opry member Dottie West.

A recording contract with Monument Records gave Jeannie her first hit in 1966 with the bluesy Hank Cochran tune “Don’t Touch Me,” which went to the top of the charts and earned her a Grammy Award. One year later, the singer who became famous as “Miss Country Soul” fulfilled her childhood dream by becoming a member of the Opry cast.

In 2000, Jeannie, who has made frequent stage and screen appearances, hit the road for Atlantic City to portray the character of Louise opposite her friend Terri Williams in Always ... Patsy Cline. The role was that of an energetic, funny woman with a heart full of love for her friends and for country music—a part she knew quite well.

Jeannie resides in Nashville, TN in a home she has renovated and decorated herself. She continues to grace the Opry stage with her beautiful vocals.

Since honky-tonk heroine Jean Shepard became an Opry member in 1955, 2005 marked her 50th anniversary in the cast. She’s the first singing woman ever to reach that milestone, but then, she’s a performer whose career has been marked by a whole series of firsts. Her early hit duet “A Dear John Letter,” sung with Ferlin Husky, was the first post-World War II country record by a woman to sell a million copies.

But her most-lasting breakthroughs can’t be measured in numbers. When Jean began recording for Ken Nelson at Capitol Records in 1952, there was really no precedent in country music for a young woman recording and touring on her own rather than as a member of a family team, couple, or as a band’s “girl singer.”

Jean’s remarkable records were hardly wilting lily stuff, either. The teenager who dared to sing “Twice the Lovin’ in Half the Time” as her first single would go on to have hard-country hits through the ’50s with “Don’t Fall in Love with a Married Man,” and “The Root of All Evil (Is a Man).” Maybe most daringly, in 1956 she took—for the first time on a country hit—the part not of a wronged wife but of “The Other Woman.” These forceful hits set the stage for Loretta Lynn, Jeannie C. Riley, Wanda Jackson, and other assertive country women that have followed. Jean’s own high-charting hits continued right on through the classic “Slippin’ Away” in 1973.

Jean has been, over her more than 50 years at the Opry, a vocal proponent of undiluted, hard honky-tonk sounds on-stage and on the air. We can all hear what she has in mind directly—every time she sings.

After working his way through the record industry, T.G. Sheppard emerged in the mid-'70s as one of the leading country-pop singers. Sheppard was born William Neal Browder in 1942, the nephew of Grand Ole Opry comedian Rod Brasfield. A native of Humboldt, Tenn., Sheppard headed to Memphis after high school, getting involved in the record business on several different levels. He tried recording as a pop artist.  He signed with Atlantic Records under the name Brian Stacy and opened shows for the Beach Boys. A few years later, he took a job with a Memphis record distributor before moving to record promotions.  In the latter capacity for RCA, he helped break Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds," Perry Como's "It's Impossible," and John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads."

After going independent, he came across a demo tape of "Devil in the Bottle."  He decided to record it on Motown's fledgling country division Melodyland Records. "Devil in the Bottle" became a No. 1 hit in 1975 followed shortly by another No.1 single "Tryin' to Beat the Morning Home."  Connecting with record producer Buddy Killen, he signed with Warner Bros., and starting in 1979, the two churned out some of country's best-crafted singles including "Mister D.J.," "Don't Ever Say Good-Bye," "When Can We Do This Again," "Last Cheater's Waltz," "I Loved 'Em Every One," "Do You Wanna Go To Heaven," "Only One You," "Party Time," and "War Is Hell (On The Homefront)."