Her skills on the steel guitar were noticed by country music entertainers, who gave Mandrell the chance to perform in public at age 13.

After marrying in 1967, Mandrell briefly retired, but was inspired to pursue a singing career after watching a performance of the Grand Ole Opry live at the Ryman Auditorium.

[8] Maphis also helped her secure a regular spot on the country music California television program Town Hall Party.

[10] When she turned 14, her parents formed the Mandrell Family Band with Barbara on steel guitar, mother Mary on piano, and father Irby on lead vocals.

[12] The Mandrell Family Band mostly played military bases around the United States and performed a variety of music including songs by The Beatles.

[15] With father Irby acting as her manager[8] she got the chance to play steel guitar on a show located in the Printer's Alley section of Nashville.

[18] Her early success garnered Mandrell the Top New Female Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music in 1970[19] and a membership to the Grand Ole Opry in 1972.

[14][20] In 1971, Mandrell's single "Tonight My Baby's Coming Home" was her first to peak in the top ten of the Billboard country songs chart.

[15] In reviewing a Columbia compilation, AllMusic's Greg Adams stated that her early work was "some of the best recordings [Barbara Mandrell] ever made.

He keeps her away from anything that could be construed as a good fit for Tammy Wynette, and when the country does turn toward the straight-ahead, it's still soft; Merle Haggard's 'Today I Started Loving You Again' doesn't carry resignation in Barbara's hands, only reassurance," Stephen Thomas Erlewine commented on one of her early LP's.

[23] Mandrell later reflected to Biography about the lack of confidence she felt showcased her Columbia material: "There have been many times when I thought other people might be better singers or better musicians or prettier than me, but then I would hear Daddy's voice telling me to never say never, and I would find a way to squeeze an extra inch or two out of what God had given me.

Writer Kurt Wolff found that her 1980s recordings exemplified "a weak attempt to maintain her roots" featuring "garnish productions" that went "head-first into schmaltz".

[3] In reviewing her 1983 album, critic Greg Adams commented, "Spun Gold contains some bizarre collisions of country music's traditional working-class perspective with disco-era glitz.

"[42] Meanwhile, writers Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann described her early 1980s singles as "powerful heartache songs" whose themes centered around "enduring financial hardship" and "proud-to-be country anthem[s]".

[37] Her next studio album Get to the Heart (1985)[46] spawned the top ten Billboard songs "Fast Lanes and Country Roads" and "Angel in Your Arms".

[16][21] Mandrell's future singles and albums reached progressively–lower chart positions as a new group of traditionally–oriented country artists began having more commercial success.

A Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann found the songs to showcase "strong female lyrics",[37] while Bill Carpenter said her 1991 album exemplified "Heartful soul and contemporary country.

[69] Joe Brown of The Washington Post called the film, "an overheated title for what amounts to a lukewarm drama about a natural phenomenon and its effect on a small town."

[4] Kurt Wolff highlighted a similar theme in his book Country Music: The Rough Guide: "[Tom] Collins churned out frightfully slick and garnish productions, but Mandrell thrived in her new environment.

"[3] Hunter Kelly of Rolling Stone explained that when Mandrell began incorporating R&B sounds into her style that her career "really kicked into overdrive".

"[15] Kurt Wolff found a similar theme with cheating material: "The subjects of many of Mandrell's songs were also racy for the time, dealing openly with such topics as lust, sexual loneliness, and late night-night love trysts."

Wolff further commented, "What's ironic about her subject matter is that Mandrell herself–a devout Christian, mother and wife– always maintained an impeccably clean, family–oriented profile.

[15] In 1982, The Washington Post highlighted Mandrell's singing in a review of her concert performance: "At other times the gritty edges of her husky voice crackled with R&B flourishes and gospel fervor.

[82][1][4] "Perhaps the toughest soldier in the female army that invaded the country charts in the 1970s, Barbara could outwork, outperform, out-talk, and out-smile virtually anyone in show business," wrote Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K.

[83] Jason Ankeny of AllMusic commented in a similar fashion: "Thanks to a string of hit singles and a popular television variety series, vocalist Barbara Mandrell was arguably the biggest female star in country music in the late '70s and early '80s.

[90] Mandrell's legacy was further cemented she released her 1990 autobiography called Get to the Heart: My Story (co-written with writer George Vecsey titled).

[92] In 2020, American disc jockey and producer Dave Audé partnered with Mandrell to remix her 1978 song "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed".

[106] The police report stated that White's car had crossed the center line of the road, causing a head-on collision with Mandrell's Jaguar XJ.

[105] These injuries included a broken femur, shattered ankle, injured knee and a concussion resulting in temporary brain damage.

[113] Nearly a year later, in accordance with Tennessee state law, Mandrell was required to sue the White family for $10.3 million in damages in order to collect from her own insurance company.