We have no idea what Reba McEntire's new album will be called or when it will be released, but we do know one thing: It is happening. The country queen's most recent studio effort, All the Women I Am, was released in 2010.
"I figured it was over," she recently told Billboard, via The Boot.
McEntire said her husband, Narvel Blackstock, convinced her she had more left in the tank. "[He] kept saying, 'No, it's not; you'll record again.' And I was like, 'Wow, where's your crystal ball?'"
Blackstock was right, and now McEntire is freely talking about the process for her new disc. She even has a love song: "I Don't Have Many of Those."
"One thing we are sticklers about is keeping the emotion — not to make it perfect," she said. "I want it to feel heartfelt — lots of soul with it. With the technology nowadays and our engineers being so incredible, you can say, 'I want to sing that,' and they're ready, or then, 'I want to sing it again,' and they're ready. There are overdubs, you can comp it, and you can make it just right."
There is another convenient aspect of country music: McEntire gets to hand-pick songs for her album from a trove of unreleased tunes.
"We've got the greatest writers in the world here in Nashville," McEntire said. "It's such a huge thrill for me to have this outlet to get these songwriters' stories out to the public. I'm the conduit from their heart and soul to the fans. We've got happy, sad, slow, fast songs. We've got a drinking song in there, and for the first time in a long time, we've got a ... love song. I don't have many of those, so I'm really tickled."
A love song? Really?
"The way I compete is in trying to find the best songs possible, and if they stand up, then we've done our job — and if they don't, then we need to work harder," she said. "That's something I've never been afraid of — is to try harder. When I see where I've failed, I don't let it beat me up, I take it as constructive criticism, go forward and try to improve on that."
Roll tide, Reba. The 59-year-old released a "Pray for Peace" video this summer. Check it out:
