Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Reba McEntire (April 2023)

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

Reba McEntire arrived in Nashville nearly five decades ago, when she was just a young rodeo queen with a knockout voice. Since then, the Queen of Country has sold more than 60 million albums, racked up 24 No. 1 songs and even become a television star. In this week’s Sunday Sitdown, Willie gets together with the icon to talk about her lifetime of entertainment and the trail she has blazed through the music industry. (Original broadcast date April 23, 2023). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. Man, am I excited this week because I am bringing you a conversation with an honest to goodness icon. It's a term that's overused. In this case, it applies. She is. Reba McIntyre. Come on.

Reba McIntyre. Let me get out of the way. And I'll let you listen to a conversation with Reba McIntyre. She's got a new book out called Not That Fancy. I should tell you, she professes her love for the backyard game cornhole in the book. So she and I, in fact, did play a little cornhole as well. Here she is right now. Reba McIntyre on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

It's so nice to see you, Reba. Thanks for doing this. Thanks, Willie. Good to get to visit with you. We've got to get through the chit-chat so we can go throw the cornhole. That's really why we're here. Well, of course. I'm all warmed up.

I don't know about you. You're here because you just wrapped up your latest tour, and you did it at. at Madison Square Garden. And I was surprised to hear it was the first time you'd ever played there. What was that experience like for you? I went into, it's just another arena because it holds such history for me and my family. Grand Pap roped there during the rodeo in the 30s. Daddy roped there during the rodeo in the 40s.

And then to get to come in in 2023 was just really emotional. And it felt like they were with us there at Madison Square Garden Saturday. That's an amazing part of the story that's your lineage of ropers, of champion ropers at rodeos that they played there as well. Did you feel some of that when you walked into the building and you went out on stage? I did. I did. It was very not creepy, not weird, but maybe warm. I felt them. My two sisters, Alison Susie, were there and my son Shelby and then my niece Chisholm McIntyre was there. So we were, McIntyres are well represented. So what is it like to play Madison Square Garden as an artist?

We were talking a minute ago. You kind of feel the history of the place. You know who all's been there. And any artists I talked to said, there's just something a little bit different on that stage. Can you put your finger on what that is? And it's kind of like playing the Ryman Auditorium or Hollywood Bowl. The history that it has,

it just exudes, you know, the past. and the people who've been there. Like you said, did you walk down the hall and see all the pictures of everybody who had performed there? And I did, and that was a little unnerving also. And then you walk out, God, I hope somebody shows up. And then you see your fans, your friends, your family. And it's just, it was a wonderful night. They get to work with the Isaacs, Terry Clark, this whole tour.

It's been so much fun. And then to get to wrap it up in New York City, Madison Square Garden was just, a dream come true. You've been doing this selling out tours for some time now. So the people were going to be in the building. That's the good news. You knew they'd be there. Well, you never know.

How do you describe the sensation of walking out on stage? Because you've done it so many times to walk out there, see a full house, people singing songs back to you that you wrote in a little room somewhere many years ago. What does that feel like? The adoration or the acceptance, everybody wants to be loved and accepted. I'm no different. I mean, we're up there on the stage, razzle-dazzle, but we're very insecure people in the inside. So you do want people to show up.

You do want people to love what you're doing. You want to be accepted. So to be on stage and after the second song, the applause went on for a long time. And I got very emotional. I mean, I was crying. But the show must go on. So mascara down the face, whatever, you've got to keep on going. And what was that emotion for you?

because you get those ovations a lot. What was the special part about that for you this time? Well, where we were, the history of the building, my family was there. And you're always more nervous when your family shows up because they know you inside out, all your flaws and everything. So it was a very emotional night. I was at Soundcheck and went through my mind and kind of ran what I was going to say about the McIntyre history at the Gardens.

And that helped because, I got that, you know, that big old lump in your throat. I got over that a little bit. So it went smoothly. I was very grateful. You strike me as somebody who enjoys being out on tour because of the camaraderie with your band and with your crew. You talk about them all the time. Yeah.

Is that part of what you love of being out there, that family that travels together? I do. I do. This tour, I'm on a bus because I used to always fly. And I missed so much. You know, going in noon catering and everybody's in there and you visit and you visit and you stay longer than you probably should. You've got to go take care of business and doing sound checks with my band and the crew.

It's just a lot of fun. And these three acts, mine, Terry's and the Isaacs, we just, we jelled. I just absolutely had the best time. And so now what do you do post-tour? Is there just a decompression that happens? You've been out there singing and grinding and traveling for a long time now. What does your life after the tour look like? Well, it's going to be a few days of rest, sleep,

recharge, regroup, unpack, wash clothes. They've been there a while. Yeah, yeah, just going back to normal life. And one of the things you have coming up to is your book, not that fancy, which is a lot of fun and tells the story of your life and the things that you've sort of grown up with and accumulated over the years in terms of culture and life and family and everything else. Tell me about the idea for the book and what you want to say in it.

Well, I've done two books already. one was an autobiography, and one was a little book of funny stories that I wanted to do. And then this one is, it's so different because it is showing pictures that my fans haven't seen before and recipes that they didn't know about that, thank goodness, it's some of the same recipes as my restaurant in Atoka, Oklahoma at Reba's Place that's in the book. We kind of tag them up there at the top. So it's kind of bringing things together. to talk about the restaurant, we talk about the book, we talk about family, friends, how to throw a party

that's not so fancy. That's my kind of party. Yes. You know, I don't really care if everything matches or sometimes I ask to use real plates instead of paper plates, but I love solo cups. So just not so fancy. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just go have a good time. That's the main thing that, I think that's the main message of the book. Don't not have. have a party because everything doesn't look right or you didn't have time to get this ready. Just go have fun. Just get together the people you love, right? Whatever you're doing.

Yeah. And have some solo cups. And lots of solo cups. And a magic marker. Write your name on the solo cup. That way you know, well, I got that from Mama. So at Thanksgiving, everybody wrote their name with a magic marker on their solo cup. And that way, you didn't have to waste a lot of cups getting a new one.

and you know which one was yours. And next Thanksgiving, you look for your cup because it's still there. Oh, really? It stays. Okay, you keep it. Yeah. Wash it out, put it up on the shelf. I still wash solo cups.

That is awesome. Yeah. I love that. A little conservation, too. You write about your mom in the introduction to the book and what an influence she was on your life and on all these things that you write about. What was it like to incorporate her into the story and really to put up front, I got all this from her.

Yeah. Well, it was most important because it all started with her. Well, God given her the gift of singing and wanting to entertain. Well, she didn't get the opportunity. She wanted to go to California and sing with her best friend, but Grandpa said no. No, he and grandma were sharecroppers, and they needed help at home. And he didn't want his daughter running off to California. Mama was the one that taught Alice Pake and Susie and me to sing.

and when we were off rodeo on, we didn't have radio in the car. And so it was four kids in the back seat, rough housing, and, you know, and so Mama would get us to sing to pass the time. And Susie, she still sings for a living. Pape does, and I do. Alice, she was more of the rodeo cowgirl. And she sings with us now, but she didn't back then as much. We were the singing McIntyres.

Yes, you were. Going way back in Oklahoma and you lived on that ranch. And you were an honest to goodness rodeo girl. I mean, you competed. Yeah. So when did singing come in at first or when did you realize, not that you could just sing in the backseat of the car, but I might be pretty good at this. Was there a moment you remember? First grade.

Really? Yeah. I sang away in a manger at the Christmas program there at Kiowa High School. And that was my first time behind a microphone. And to get attention. See, I was the third of first. four kids. I wasn't the oldest, the youngest, the only boy I was in the third position, so you don't get much attention. And I wanted attention, and I figured out the best kind of

attention I could get was when I would sing, not running barrels, not playing basketball, but singing, that's when everybody kind of leaned forward and listened a little bit more. So that's what I kept striving for, because once you do get attention for doing something good, you want to do it again and again. And so I was in every program at school, 4-H club, Thanksgiving, Easter, whatever kind of program they had. I volunteered to sing. So six years old, I mean, that takes a little courage to get up there at the high school, doesn't it? Well, Mama was encouraging me saying it'll be fine.

You can do it. And so when you have that kind of help, you can just do about anything. We have that kind of support from your parents, somebody you trust and love so much. So how did you balance that life on the ranch? Because I know you had to help out. You were basically one of the ranchers, right? You were an employee. One of the hired hands. Yeah, one of the hired hands. How did you balance all that work you had to do with this dream you had of singing? Well, unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to know that's really where I need to be because I did want to be a world champion barrel racer. And Daddy was the one that said, why do you always want to do something you're not good at?

Oh, he means quit that stuff and stick with my singing. And it wasn't until years later when I realized I'm not that good of a barrel racer and I was donating more than I was winning that, you know, just stick with it and move forward. And it took a while. I'm pretty hard-headed on something. But timing is everything. Yeah. Everything happens for a reason. And it all kind of fell right into place.

Well, to that point, so the National Rodeo. I think in 1974 comes to Oklahoma City. You all go and you sing the national anthem. And as luck would have it, there's somebody sitting there who hears you and says, hmm, she's got it. What was the story of that day? Well, Red Stiegel, a good friend of mine, Ken Lance introduced me to Red while I was coming back in the bathroom to go up,

kind of off the Crow's Nest to sing the National Anthem. And he was very nice, very tall. And Mama asked him later if there's any way that he could get us three kids in, you know, record deal. He said, Jackie, I'm really fighting for myself right now. Then he called her back. That was in December of 74. Called her back and he said, can you bring Reba down to Nashville? I've got some songs that I wrote with Glenn Sutton, Lynn Anderson's husband, and I would like for her to sing the demo and maybe we can picture around town.

And so we did. and nobody was interested. Then they started pitching the songs, and Glenn Keener over at Polygram Mercury heard the songs. He said, don't care for the songs, but who's that girl singer? And that's how I got my contract? And how old are you at that point? 21.

21 years old. So that's your first contract. And you think, okay, here we go. I've made it in Nashville, but it took a little while. It was kind of a slow burn. Is that fair to say? Baby step, slow burn. Yeah, I thought once you had a record on the radio, you're rich.

You know, you have a tour bus, big mansion. No, I was living in a $10 a month rent house in Oklahoma. I had to haul our own water. And I went from pickup trucks with campers on them and our horse trailers that we converted into kind of scrape out the horse crap to put our amplifiers and sound system in to travel around and do my shows. I didn't get a bus till 82. Is that right?

Yeah. Wow. Not the glamorous life you'd heard about. No. And anyway. So when did things start to change for you, Reba? When did you, as you went through that process, when did you start to get to the point where, okay, some people are listening to my songs on the radio. I do have a tour bus now. How did that happen for you? It was a huge learning curve because I knew nothing about the music business. So I had

great teachers starting off with Red Stiegel and then Jerry Kennedy at Polygram Mercury Records. And then managers, Don Williams, Bill Carter, Narville Blackstock, Claren. Spallelder. Every time I got with new people, I learned new things. But every time I would separate from some of those people, I got that gap to where I could do the things I had thought up that they said, no, we don't do it like that. And I said, well, maybe someday we'll get to. And then I would come up with my idea that I wanted to remember, that might work. Well, it did. Then I got confidence. And then I started doing more of the things that I wanted to do, like I wanted a steel guitar and fiddle on my music instead of an orchestra.

And then I started looking for my own songs and going to the publishing companies and finding my own material to sing. So it was baby steps in every aspect. So it wasn't a big overnight success. It wasn't one thing that really made the difference. It was a lot of things that made the difference. And you were determined. You had talent, of course, but you were determined.

And I think not just in music, but in any field, you have to have a little bit of both. There are a lot of talented people who don't make it where you are right now. They might be singing on Lower Broadway tonight or something. They're great. So what kept you going through those obstacles? Curiosity, faith, especially in the hard times, the bad times, the sad times, my faith. And just thinking, what more can we do? What else can we do?

How can we do it differently? I've watched. I studied. And I saw what people did right and I saw what people did wrong. But the A number one thing that really, no, I'm not the best singer. I'm not the best entertainer. But I try hard. It's like when I went to basketball camp all those years, they would say, well, are you a pretty good ball player?

I said, nope. But I volunteer. I'm the first. If the coach says, I need to volunteer, my hand was up in my heartbeat. Coaches love volunteers. And they like people with try. I try harder. Did you ever have a moment on this climb where you thought maybe this isn't.

going to happen for me. Maybe this town's too tough or they don't get me or whatever it is. Did you ever have a moment where you said, I think I'm going to go home to Oklahoma and figure something else out? No. Never. No. I was complaining one time to my cousin, Paula. And she said, well, if you don't like it, why don't you just quit? And I'm like, what are you talking about? No, I'm just venting. I'm not complaining like I want to quit and it's awful. It's just kind of Complaining. So then what's the break for you? I mean, people point to different songs and your first number one or whatever it is.

What was the moment where you felt like, okay, I'm here now. Now let's build it from this place. When did you feel like you had arrived in Nashville? On the album, whoever's in New England. My first gold album. First video. So it got me into acting a little bit. And so that kind of, that little itch was there for a while when I finally got to do the videos.

I saw, oh, I like this. And then I wanted to do a movie. So it just kind of broadened the horizon. Success does that. And that was an anthem, that song. And you've gone on to sing many anthems. Do you think about that when you write a song? The thing I'm saying I know is on the minds of a whole bunch of other people, too?

Well, that's what I think when I hear those songs. I didn't write them. So when I'm going out to the publishing companies and looking for songs, I like a song when it hits me and I want. want to hear the whole song over and over and over again, that's the one I want to record because I love it. And also, when I hear a song, I'm going, oh, they can relate to that. I can relate to that. You'll be able to relate to that. And that's what makes a hit song. Everybody listening going, I relate to it because of my story. I think you'd say that about almost every one of your songs.

You're right. That's what makes a great song. The videos, you were sort of pioneering in that way. They were very important to you. What did you do? see in those early days of music videos that you knew might help your music along as well. Well, when I sing a song, I have a video going in my head for me. And so I thought, if we can do more videos, that will let the audience, when they hear the song, they may have a video in their brain too. But let's give them one. And every time they hear the song, they will see that video in their mind. And it just was another avenue of getting my face with the song out and from the public, put it all together.

Which then turns into a screen career. Yeah. Doing movies. You get a hit sitcom, Reba. Yeah. You get nominated for a Golden Globe Award. You play Annie Oakley on Broadway. At what point did you decide, like, music's going well. Let's try some of this other stuff, too, because that could have been seen as you're stepping away from music or you've, you know, you've turned your attention elsewhere. Why did you want to do all that stuff? Well, Mom always said I had the attention span of a two-year-old. So I have to have different things.

I do something so long, do the same thing, I get bored. And then to be able to go from acting back to music or go on a vacation, get your batteries recharge, and go right back into singing, do a tour, and then have an acting job. It just kept it mixed up for me. And that keeps my creative juices and my attention span all satisfied. I mean, with the show, with Riba, everyone knew you and loved you, but there's no guarantee it's all going to work. It's a totally different thing for you.

You must have been so pleasantly surprised by the response, the long run, the award nominations, all that. Thrill. It must have been a cool time for you. I think people took me more seriously after I did Annie get your gun. Sherr one time said, if you do Broadway, they look at you different. I think they respected me, although I'd never done a play before, and I hadn't acted that much except for videos. and then I did tremors, and 89 came out in 90. And it just kind of gave me a little bit more, I don't know, power or credentials.

And people thought, well, she did that. She could do a sitcom. And I'll never forget getting Chris Rich, who played my ex-husband over in the kitchen part. And I'd say, what do they mean when they say so-and-so? He's okay, what we're going to do is. And that's what I had to have is help. I didn't know anything about that business. Kind of faking your way through it a little bit.

I did. Smoking bells and whistles. Well, you fooled them all. You did pretty well with it. Thanks. Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Reba McIntyre right after the break. Welcome back now, more of my conversation with Reba McIntyre. What do you think about the term icon or legend or trailblazer?

When you hear those things, they're all. all true, what do they mean to you when you hear those? Because those are terms people use when they talk about you. Oh, well, when I hear those words, I think Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tammy Winnett, Barbara Mandrell, Ann Murray, Minnie Pearl. All of those women are the pioneers, the icons, the legends that I got to learn from. But they're a whole bunch of young artists in Nashville. You are that person for them. Is that a cool feeling? It's a cool feeling. It's a huge responsibility because I definitely want to, in my span that I get to do this, I want to find ways of doing it better so it'll make it easier on them. Then it's their responsibility to move forward, find a better way of doing something for the people coming up next behind them.

So we've all got responsibilities, and it's always to make it better. Daddy always said if you lease a place to run catalog, always leave it better than the way you found it. So that's what we have to do in the music business. You've done that and then some. Thank you. And the country music business is a completely different place from the 1970s and early 80s when you were fighting your way up than it is today. Yeah.

Do you see that progress with these young artists that the doors have opened in ways that they weren't opening for you? Oh, yeah, definitely. Back when I got started, the advice from people was sing everywhere you can because you don't know who's going to be in the audience that could help you. Well, it did happen to me with Red Stegall. And whether you're singing at honky tonks, dance halls, bars, rodeos, no matter where it is, there's going to be somebody there that could possibly take an interest in you and help you on your next step of the journey. That's very important.

But, yeah, it's totally different now. I mean, if you have a hit TikTok, you're an overnight sensation with so many people seeing you. We didn't have that back in the 70s. You'd have to play a billion places to make up for the same amount of people who can see you on one TikTok. Do you miss putting out albums? People kind of pop out singles here and there. I mean, I know you do, but the business is clearly different, right? Shoot something out, get a single out there.

Yeah, I like the albums. I like the physical vinyl. That's what's so neat about not so fancy is you're going to have a CD, you're going to have a CD, you're going to have a physical LP that you can hold in your hand and put on a turntable, and then also you can stream it. So we're still like the materialistic way of doing it instead of just pushing a button and hearing it for a while. I like to hold it and touch it. You get to tell a story over 10 or 15 tracks or whatever.

Yes. Your fans are, I guess, diverse is the word. You just span so many different groups of people, some who might not think, Oh, they're country fans. Is that a point of pride for you that your audience is so wide? Yes, very grateful, very thankful. And people who I wouldn't think would be fans and know my music, I love to be surprised by that. And I get that a lot.

I get a lot of surprises. And that's a good thing. We live in such sort of divided times, and there are a handful of people we all agree on. I think you're one of them. Oh, thank you. When I said, I'm going to go talk to. Reba. It doesn't matter who they are. Oh, we love Reba. So thank you for that. Oh, you're welcome. We all can agree on. So we've talked about the range and diversity of the

things you've done in your career, which raises the question, what else is out there? I mean, I can't think of anything you haven't done, but surely you're pondering your next move. Is there something you have not done professionally that you want to do? Well, just like this year, people would have said, what do you want to do? I couldn't even think up. I want to do Madison Square Garden. I want to do the Hollywood Bowl. So thank God they booked us here and we got to do it. Doug Seismore's my musical director and my band leader.

He's been with me for 31 years. How great it is to wind up a tour like that. So what do we want to do? I've never been the person to think it up so much as to do it. Somebody else thinks it up. I'll go do it gladly. sometimes I get a good idea. But I've always let God take that position.

When I'm ready, he'll know when I'm ready, and he'll kind of pave the way and have it ready for me. Just ready for anything? Yeah. I love that. Stick around for more of my conversation with Reba McIntyre right after a quick break. Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Reba McIntyre. Got to ask you about Reba's place, the restaurant.

How cool is that? It's damn cool. To go back to your home county. and have your own place where you were roping cattle as a little girl. It's got to be amazing. It's fun. I didn't want to do a restaurant. You know, that's hard.

Yeah. It was the way they presented it to me. It'll revitalize the town. Atoka's between Tulsa and Dallas. It's right on Highway 69-75, sleepy little town. And the restaurant's right off that main road. And so I partnered up with the Choctaw Nation, great partners. I've played their casinos before a lot.

And the town was behind it. If the town hadn't been behind it, it would have been a no-brainer pass. But everybody was behind it. It has helped the whole town. Everybody's kind of cleaning up, sprucing up, painting, and it's just been wonderful. And we're continuing to see other ways. outside of the restaurant to help the town, whether it's helping kids coming out of foster care,

the homeless, or single moms that don't have a place to go or a great place to live. We're going outside of the restaurant to see what else we can do. And that's not me by myself. I mean, that's the whole town. They're saying, what more can we do? And what a blessing to be able to do something like that for a place you love so much? Yeah.

It's a blessing. It's very gratified. you get to thinking, that's why I'm here. I thought it was just a saying, nope, it's to help people. Well said, I couldn't say it any better myself. Well, I think we should maybe go grab one of those red solo cups and throw some cornhole. Okay. I've seen what you've said in the book.

I'm ready for you. Have you warmed up today? I have not. I'm a little worried. I'm a little word. I got an advantage over you. I had him set up in the whole. hotel room, you know, my cornhole game that I traveled with.

Stretching out a little bit. I did. I did. I'm my stretches and, you know, push out. This is the off season for me. I'm usually a summer player. So you've caught me at my worst. So see, I'm saying back a little bit. We'll see. All right, let's do it. After that conversation, as you can hear, Reba and I did hop up, play a little bit of cornhole. Let's just say I held my own against the country music icon. She's really good, though. I think what was missing for both of us was the actual red solo cup. She's talking about there. You've got to be holding a drink to throw your best cornhole. My big thanks again to Reba for spending some time with me. My thanks to all of you, as always, for listening. If you want to hear more of these conversations

with my guests every week, be sure to click follow so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune into Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week. Sunday, sit down.