Reba talks about sitcom, music, life
Neil Baron

Aside from selling more than 46 million records, country artist Reba McEntire isn’t all that different from you and me. Like many of us, she dreamed of being on a television sitcom.

“I’ve had the desire for a long time from watching TV so much and loving sitcoms,” she said by phone from her home in Nashville.

It wasn’t until five years ago, after nearly 27 consecutive years on the road, McEntire decided to give it a shot. Armed with a resume that included the title role of cowgirl Annie Oakley in “Annie Get Your Gun” on Broadway, she headed for Hollywood.

“But it didn’t work out,” she said. “We went to networks, directors, show runners and writers. But everybody wanted me to do something I didn’t want to do. So we just went home.”

It wasn’t the first time McEntire, 49, had a setback in her career choice.

“Back when I was growing up, all I wanted to be was a world champion barrel racer in the rodeo,” she said. “Then singing kind of took the forefront because I could do it a lot better than rodeo. So I stuck with that and with my mom and daddy’s encouragement, I got my record contract.”

That was in 1977 when she released her self-titled debut on Mercury Records. But it was shortly after returning from Hollywood that McEntire got the script for a sitcom, “Reba,” on the WB Network. Suddenly, her dream became reality.

The Friday night show slowly built a following and was recently picked up for a fourth season. She admits she would have a hard time choosing between her music and her acting.

“I like them both for different reasons,” she said. “That would be very hard for me to do. I’m really lucky that I get to do both. But because I’ve done music for over 25 years ... if I had to do just one, just for something different, I’d have to say TV. But because it’s been so loyal and good to me and I love it so much, it’d be the music.”

She also loves the newness that television provides.

“It’s a new script every week,” she said. “With the music, you sing the same songs every night.”

But the stage comes with a bonus.

“That live audience, the energy you get from it is just incredible,” she said.

Still, McEntire, whose road show increasingly grew to massive proportions in the 1990s, needed a break from the road.

“We just kept touring and touring and the show kept getting bigger and bigger,” she said. “We had 21 trucks one year. I was changing clothes 15 times. I’d come up through the floor and fly through the air on cables.

“I think we did that just because we were getting bored. But when you get away from music for two years, you say, ‘I don’t want that. All I want is the music.’”

McEntire, who is touring in support of her first original CD in five years, “Room to Breathe,” was a little concerned about what her fans would think.

“I’m back just singing,” said McEntire, who returned to the road in March. “I don’t change clothes, I don’t do anything but stand up there and sing. I thought they (fans) would be very disappointed, but no, they love it.”

McEntire said the boredom she began to feel isn’t likely to return.

“What keeps me going are the songs. They’re great songs. If I was just singing, I’d get bored stiff. But no, with the kind of songs I’ve gotten to record over the past 27 years, they’re meaty, you can sink your teeth into them.”

Picking the right songs for her albums is imperative to McEntire.

“You’d be amazed how many songs we all listen to,” she said. “It’s not only me. It’s my two producers, the A&R guys at record labels, my friends listen for me, search for me. It takes all hands of the cooks to find great songs and I’ve been very blessed.”

Her short-term goal is simple.

“No plans,” she said. “Never. I just ask the good Lord to take care of me and to show me the way, what he wants me to do and he’s always done that and it’s worked out very well. I give him all the credit for what’s going on.”