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Reba McEntire: A Brief Reflection June 2019

Hello to new readers and to my Notesong Blog followers. As a San Diego California pop culture blogger, I know how big Country music is out West. And, for many, line dancing remains a quite popular weekly fun share out here. Some folks back East and in the South might be surprised, but Country Music is one of the most favorite American musical genres in California, has been for quite a while. https://www.wideopencountry.com/12-best-california-country-music-venues/  

San Diego California has a variety of Country and Western clubs, large and small from supper clubs, to bars, dance clubs, to live music. https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=country+western+bar&find_loc=San+Diego%2C+CA

Of course most of my readers know that one of my long time favorite Country singers is Reba McEntire.       



My folks loved country music. It surprises my friends to find out that I was raised listening to the Grand Ol' Opry which by the way is very much a music force in today's 21st century!
https://www.opry.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=2018_Search_Brand_Exact&utm_term=grand%20ole%20opry%7ce&utm_content=277721146250&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrLebo8Xp4gIVj6_sCh0VeAA0EAAYASAAEgJg7_D_BwE

We listen to Tammy Wynette, Red Foley, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Flatts and Scrubs, and Patsy Cline to name just a few. We watched Hee Haw every week on TV. I really did think the jokes were funny. It was sheer joy for me when Minnie Pearl walked onto the stage. Despite racial tensions, in my mind  Minne Pearl must have been the backwoods neighbor and best friend that Mom's Mabley left down home when she migrated North to the city. I was young. But, I knew the music and personalities I liked even then.  Country music was one of several genres I tried to sing and play on the piano as a child musician, which included Gospel, R & B, Rock, and the newly emerging Soul Music. And I loved the music time I spent with my momma and my daddy.

As an adult, I miss sitting on the big red sofa watching TV with my folks in the living room. This was our time. They loved all kinds of music. My siblings were usually off somewhere else. R &B and 50s rock had caught their ear. To them, Grand Ol' Opry Time and Hee Haw  time  was when they could do their thing as our parents mercifully let them have their space while they spent quality time time with the baby.

Funny, I never seemed to outgrow that title of baby sister. Even through my thirties when I returned home to visit and inevitably found my space on the new beige sectional sofa as daddy sat in his recliner and momma snuggled up beside me while we watched television together, it was our time. The phone would  ring; momma would pick it up. I remember her sweet soft voice saying, "Yes, the baby's home. We're watching TV. I'll call you back." Daddy would have the final word, "Johnny Cash is up next. Tennessee Ernie Ford is on after the commercial. Don't want to miss that!"

You know, readers, I don't remember when it was that I first saw and heard Reba McEntire. I do know that it was around the time I had moved to San Diego. I only remember watching a television special and the sound of her complex yet compelling vocal sound. It seemed so easy for her to command the performance stage. However, she struggled in her career. Perhaps that is what I also heard in her voice . . .lived experiences. She was not an overnight sensation .https://www.biography.com/musician/reba-mcentire

I remember my amazement: such power came from such a small woman. And, she had big red hair! Most women country singers had started wearing BIG hair. But, I had never seen a country singer with BIG RED HAIR.


The hair is different now. The voice sounds even more lived in for me. And Reba still stylizes her lyrics with vocal story telling brilliance. One of my favorite love songs is a bitter sweet homage to real, true love. It's title is "Somebody's Chelsea".


 Reba continues to command the American musical stage and in the 21st century, the world musical stage. She maintains her distinctive complex raw, strong yet vulnerable, honest, style. To this day, she sings a story and the words still grab me.  By the chorus, I am usually singing along. 

Here's to you Reba McEntire! Oh yea . . .still listening to your newest album.




Delores Fisher

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