Barbara Mandrell hit her commercial peak in the early 1980s, when her only serious rival as the queen of country-pop crossover was Olivia Newton-John. With her TV variety series, glitzy stage show, and commercial success, some questioned whether Mandrell was country at all, though she reasserted her loyalty when she recorded "I Was Country When Country Wasn"t Cool," revived here as a kickoff duet by Reba McEntire and Kenny Chesney. The range of artistry assembled for this trans-generational tribute suggests that Mandrell"s music remains deeply loved and widely influential, almost a decade after her retirement from music. Younger artists such as Terri Clark ("Singing Single in a Double Bed"), Brad Paisley ("In Times Like These"), and Dierks Bentley ("Fast Lanes and Country Roads") bring a hard-rocking edge to Mandrell hits, though Gretchen Wilson plays against type with the steel-guitar weeper "The Midnight Oil." Mandrell drew inspiration from outside country as well, as LeAnn Rimes reminds us with the string-drenched, rhythm & blues balladry of "If Loving You Is Wrong, I Don"t Wanna Be Right," as does CeCe Winans with the sweeping gospel finale, "He Set My Life to Music." Best of all is the teaming of Willie Nelson and Shelby Lynne on the tender "This Time I Almost Made It." --Don McLeese