Mandy Barnett — The End of the World

To purchase this song on iTunes, click here.

Well, if there is anything good to come out of the recent highly problematic PBS Ken Burns-directed documentary on country music, maybe, just maybe there will be a brief, fleeting moment when a simple, straightforward country classic can make a reappearance on the charts. If that ever were a possibility, the time is now, and the song is “The End of the World,” given a melting vocal delivery by the consistently satisfying Mandy Barnett.

Although originally written as a pop song, it has attained a country pedigree over the decades. Notable previous interpreters of the glorious song by composer Arthur Kent and lyricist Sylvia Dee include Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn and Anne Murray. The original version by Skeeter Davis in 1962 reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

If this single doesn’t zoom to number one today, it’s okay. After all, country music has survived, and always will survive lapses in taste. It’s not the end of the world. Besides, we still have the crystal clear, heartfelt vocals of Mandy Barnett… no matter what she’s singing.