McEntire, Reba

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REBA McENTIRE

Born: Chockie, Oklahoma, 28 March 1955

Genre: Country

Best-selling album since 1990: Read My Mind (1994)

Hit songs since 1990: "Is There Life Out There," "She Thinks His Name Was John," "How Was I to Know"

Applying her distinctive, tremulous vocals to a long run of Top 10 hits, Reba McEntire became the most successful female country performer of the 1980s and 1990s. While other singers of the 1980s faded into obscurity during the following decade, McEntire remained on top through consistently fine song selection and a warm, down-to-earth public persona. In keeping with this image McEntire imbued her songs with a refreshingly female perspective, choosing material that explored the many aspects of contemporary women's lives. Her voice, a wide-ranging instrument recalling the sound of country legend Patsy Cline, was the perfect vehicle for her songs of loss, faith, and determination. By the beginning of the millennium she had proven her resiliency, overcoming personal tragedy and finding success on the Broadway stage and television.

Early Life and Rise to Stardom

Raised on an Oklahoma cattle ranch, McEntire spent her childhood performing in rodeos with her father, professional steer rider Clark McEntire, while gaining music instruction from her mother Jackie. With her sisters she formed the group the Singing McEntires, recording a song, "The Ballad of John McEntire," that received local radio play in Oklahoma. After performing the national anthem at the National Rodeo Finals in Oklahoma City in 1974, McEntire was approached by country singer and songwriter Red Steagall, who suggested she record as a solo artist. With the blessings of her family she broke away from the Singing McEntires and, through Steagall's connections, signed a recording contract with Mercury Records in 1975. During this time she married steer wrestler Charlie Battles and completed her teaching diploma at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Although McEntire achieved a degree of commercial success on Mercury, her sound did not fully coalesce until moving to MCA Records in 1984. On MCA she achieved stardom through infusing her recordings with more of her tough but tender personality. Proving herself a skilled dramatic interpreter, McEntire shone on songs that cast her in a wide range of roles, from bored society wife in "Little Rock" to the neglected spouse of "Whoever's in New England" (both 1986). On the latter she establishes a new female country image for the late 1980s; neither aggressive nor overly submissive, McEntire sounds confident that her husband will come back: "When whoever's in New England's through with you / And Boston finds better things to do . . . you'll always have a place to come back to." Unfamiliar with life "up north," McEntire's character is distinctly southern, unworldly but far from naïve. Like the characters on the popular late 1980s television program Designing Women, McEntire epitomizes the traditional but contemporary woman of the "New South," secure in her values while approaching modern pressures with open-mindedness. In keeping with this duality, McEntire retained the country twang in her voice even as her records sounded increasingly slick and polished as the 1980s drew to a close.

The 1990s: Tragedy and Triumph

In 1990 seven members of McEntire's nine-piece band were killed in a plane crash. Devastated, McEntire released For My Broken Heart (1991) as a means of coming to terms with the loss. Although the songs avoid addressing the tragedy specifically, all feature characters looking back on their lives with autumnal regret. On "All Dressed up (with Nowhere to Go)," an old woman in a nursing home, forgotten by her family, waits in her Sunday finery for the ride to church that will never come. While the scene's grim irony approaches the southern gothic style of writer Flannery O'Connor, McEntire's straightforwardness grounds it in everyday experience. As such, the song is as much a statement about respect for the elderly as an exploration of loss and mortality. Even at her most adventurous McEntire remains populist, maintaining a directness that assures her ongoing appeal to country audiences. Still, her art is sometimes less simple than it appears. On "I Wouldn't Go That Far," another of For My Broken Heart 's highlights, she describes a late-night car ride taken in her youth: "He drove me down that old dusty road . . . he wanted me and I wanted him." At first, McEntire's character seems to be saying no to sex; only later is it apparent that she "wouldn't go that far" in love: "I didn't follow my heart." By the end, she sings with the sadness and resignation of one who has lost the great love of her life. A fine storyteller, McEntire makes listeners feel they are in private conversation with her, the soulful tug in her voice contributing to her authenticity.

In 1994 McEntire released one of her most courageous songs, "She Thinks His Name Was John," the only country hit to address the topic of AIDS. Serious without being heavy-handed, the song is all the more impressive for its lack of moralizing. "I'm not a person who judges," she told the AIDS magazine A&U in 2001. Like all of McEntire's best work, "She Thinks His Name Was John," gives voice to the multiple challenges women face in a changing world. During the remainder of the 1990s McEntire continued to release albums that displayed confidence and vocal growth. While her work during this period sometimes erred on the side of blandness, it never sounded less than pleasant. On So Good Together (1999), her voice is supple and strong, richer and less wobbly than on earlier releases. Her lower register in particular sounds full and rounded, while her tough vocal growl remains intact. On songs such as "'Til I Said It to You," she employs a skilled sense of timing, fitting long strings of words into the rhythm without sounding rushed or strained. The same rhythmic assurance informs the bass-driven title track, which reflects McEntire's interest in other musical styles, namely rhythm and blues.

New Directions

While McEntire cut back on her recording activities after the late 1990s, she found success in the New York theater, replacing Broadway star Bernadette Peters in a revival of the classic musical Annie Get Your Gun in 2001. McEntire won raves from the tough New York critics for her spirited, high-strung performance. Crediting her with rescuing an otherwise labored production, the New York Times asserted, "She makes a highly polished performance look so easy you wonder why we aren't all Broadway stars." In the fall of 2001 she premiered her own sitcom, Reba, which, in keeping with McEntire's trademark realism, dealt with a mature subject: single motherhood and teen pregnancy. During this period McEntire also published two autobiographical books and continued her activities as a successful businesswoman, running Starstruck Enterprises, a combination booking, publishing, promotions, and private jet company, with second husband Narvel Black-stock. Despite her success McEntire remained chipper, funny, and engaging during interviews, seeming more like a friendly next-door neighbor than a multimillionaire performer. As if in recognition of this accessibility, McEntire attested on "I'm a Survivor" (2001) that, "I may be the queen of broken hearts / But I don't hide behind the crown"—lyrics that hold true for her entire career.

McEntire's down-home honesty and pop sophistication paved the way for successful 1990s country singers such as Shania Twain and Faith Hill. Unlike these performers, McEntire maintains close ties with her country roots, her voice never losing its twangy cadences. Ignoring trends in country music that call for hard-rock pyrotechnics, McEntire relies on subtle communication and storytelling for the effectiveness of her work, creating music that speaks to a female audience while remaining universally likable. Through her presence in other areas of the media, including television and theater, McEntire has succeeded in bringing country further into the cultural mainstream.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Reba McEntire (Mercury, 1977); Just a Little Love (MCA, 1984); Whoever's in New England (MCA, 1986); For My Broken Heart (MCA, 1991); Read My Mind (MCA, 1994); So Good Together (MCA, 1999).