Reba McEntire
at San Manuel Casino, Thursday, July 3
By: Jonny Whiteside
Big voiced okie charmer Reba McEntire rates as perhaps the final link in the evolution of the Nashville country music ‘girl singer,’ and she has upheld that lineage (from Kitty Wells to Dolly Parton to Tammy Wynette) with classic, aw shucks hillbilly grace. Raised by a champion rodeo rider father and a talented, singing mother, McEntire and her siblings would travel on the rodeo circuit and frequently performed for tips just about anywhere they could (Reba also got into the rodeo act, as youthful horseback barrel rider); the kids were good enough that they soon had their own bookings, as the Singing McEntires, and even made records for the indie Boss imprint. But in 1975, when country great Red Steagall heard the 24-year-old with the gale-force pipes deliver the national anthem at the National Rodeo Finals, McEntire was on her way. Signed to Mercury, she first made the country chart the following year, and her singles steadily ascended until 1982’s “Can’t Even Get the Blues” became her first number one hit. Since that time, McEntire’s sustained reign as one of Music City’s top Queens has been as impressive the sheer rear-back-and-let-’er fly impact her vocals have always delivered. Despite changing tastes and some dark moments of tragedy (that horrific plane crash that killed her band members and manager), Reba McEntire remains a perpetually sunny, accomplished force. Never one to shy away from taking chances (get a load of her version of Aretha Franklin’s classic “Respect”), she has also excelled as author (1994 autobiography Reba was a bestseller) and actor; forget the corny sitcom and relish her superb performance as the gun-toting survivalist in horror fave Tremors. Reba? She does it all. (Jonny Whiteside)
Reba McEntire at San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, 777 San Manuel Blvd., Highland, (800) 359-2464. Thursday, July 3. Tickets $80–$100; Doors at 6:30PM
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