Barbara Lynn loved music from the day she was born in Beaumont, Texas. As a child, she was learning piano and enjoyed it. However, she decided to switch to guitar due to Elvis but struggled to find a guitar. Lynn was born left-handed and left-handed guitars were hard to find. In an interview with Austin Chronicle, Lynn stated, “… there’s a music store here in Beaumont called Swicegood Music and they ordered me a left-handed guitar because it costs more being left-handed. Sometimes I would have to string up my strings backward when I was playing a right-handed guitar”
As you can see in the picture below, Lynn loved being a guitarist. She strived to be like Connie Francis, Guitar Slim, and Brenda Lee. When she was in middle school, Barb created a girl group called Bobby Lynn and the Idols. As she grew older and entered high school, Barb started to perform and clubs, talent shows, and juke joints.
In 1962, Lynn was discovered and brought to New Orleans to record some songs. Her debut single, “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” flew up the charts. Once her single hit number 1 on Billboard, Lynn was asked to be on multiple shows and tours.
10 years later, Barbara was married and started having kids. She decided it was best for her to take some time off and focus on family. Throughout her time off, she did perform a few times but it was nothing like her first tour back in 1984. She performed all throughout Japan and then went internationally in the mid-1990s. She was signed to Bullseye Blues and released 2 studio albums, one in 1994 and the other in 1996.
One of her biggest accomplishments, show-wise, was performing on American Bandstand. Once again according to the Austin Chronicle interview she reminisces on her time performing. “… being on American Bandstand not once but twice. And I thought that was really a good experience meeting Dick Clark, and playing with people like Chuck Berry and Stevie Wonder.” Pictured below is Barbara and Dick Clark on her first time performing at American Bandstand.
Barbara received the 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellowship and performed at the Kennedy Center as well. The National Heritage Fellowship according to the texasfolklife.org, “The 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellows have dedicated their lives to mastering these distinctive art forms and sharing them with new audiences both within their communities and nationwide,” said Mary Anne Carter, acting chairman for the National Endowment for the Arts.”
And according to an interview in 2014 with Austin Chronicle, her friend Sarah Ruckers said,
“Barbara Lynn is an American musical icon,” she states. “How many left-handed female blues guitar players do you know that have withstood the music business for over 50 years with success as a recording and performing artist?”
As you can see, Barbara is a spitting image of what the fellowship shows. She continues to live down in Beaumont Texas and likes to watch her grandkids perform around town.
Here is a video from 2016. Take a look at how she is playing her guitar. She is wearing a fingerpick. A fingerpick is sitting on her left thumb. This is so she can get her iconic sound and image of playing the guitar.
Works Cited
“Barbara Lynn Biography, Songs, & Albums.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/barbara-lynn-mn0000149973/biography.
“Barbara Lynn Receives 2018 NEA National Heritage Fellowship.” Texas Folklife | Folk and Traditional Arts of Texas, texasfolklife.org/article/barbara-lynn-receives-2018-nea-national-heritage-fellowship.
“Thanks Barbara Lynn.” Austin News, Events, Restaurants, Music – The Austin Chronicle, www.austinchronicle.com/daily/music/2014-02-07/thanks-barbara-lynn/.
UNT Libraries’ Digital Projects Unit. The Portal to Texas History, 15 Jan. 2021, texashistory.unt.edu/.
