Reba McEntire on working with Dolly Parton and her new triple album

On Friday 22nd October, none other than Reba McEntire joined Absolute Radio Country’s Baylen Leonard, to co-host his show and talk about her new album, Revised Remixed Revisited. It's a fresh take on thirty of Reba's best songs.

“This has totally been redone,” Reba told Baylen. “Revised is ten songs the band and I went back into the studio and recorded the songs as we perform them on stage at a concert.”

“The Remixed songs are dance mixes and then Revisited are the songs we went into the studio with Dave Cobb and recorded stripped down versions, a little laid back, a little slower. So each song on all three albums is different from how fans heard them originally.”

“I’ve been in this business so long, you’ve got to come up with ways to reinvent me, so I’m really thrilled the new album turned out so well.”

Reba’s been singing since the 1970s, she’s sold fifty-six million albums, had thirty-five number ones, but she’s only just recorded a duet with Dolly Parton! What took her so long?

“That’s what Dolly and I were talking about when we were shooting the video. We didn’t get to be together when we recorded the song because of Covid, but when we were sitting around waiting for the cameras, shaking our heads saying, why has it taken so long?”

“But timing is everything, and everything happens for a reason. I’m thrilled to death that she said yes, it’s just a dream come true. I love the way she sang Does He Love You, her interpretation. I asked her what made you change it from the way Linda Davis (who is the mother of Lady A’s Hillary!) sang it? And she said, ‘I just sing the way I feel it.’”

“Dolly is so witty and warm and approachable. She’s like your buddy. She’s an incredible woman, she’s done so much in her life, but if you just sit and talk with her, you’d never know all the incredible things she’s done.”

Not only is Reba country music royalty, she’s also an actress! Her sitcom, Reba ran for six years in the early 00s.

“I’m very lucky I get to have my cake and eat it too! When I was doing Reba (the TV show), we were filming from August to March. Occasionally, I would do a one off show, maybe a festival, maybe a private show. But we would wait until we’d wrapped filming and then tour in the summer. And then I had my clothing line, so it’s really neat for me to be able to do one thing and move to another. I have no chance of getting bored.”

Is there an acting role Reba would love to play? “On my nightstand is the book Giant, which was the basis for the film starring Elizabeth Taylor, and Rock Hudson. Wouldn't that be cool to do a remake of that? And I get to play the Elizabeth Taylor part? I’d have to wear a wig…”

Now THAT we would love to see!

Watch the full interview here:

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• absolute radio country
• Reba McEntire
• Country Music
• Dolly Parton