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Reba (album)

Reba is the fourteenth studio album by American country music singer Reba McEntire. McEntire collaborated once again with former rockabilly artist and legendary music producer Jimmy Bowen, and the album was released on April 25, 1988. Gone were the honky tonk stable steel guitars and fiddles of My Kind of Country and Have I Got a Deal for You, to be replaced by a highly produced and orchestrated production. The album recalls to mind the music on the hit parade of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The Nashville and country-soul crossover sounds of the 1960s are also represented. Created before For My Broken Heart and It's Your Call, this was one of the first of McEntire's albums to have a conceptual feeling. This was created by song choice and the use of similar instrumentation and vocal arrangement throughout the album. Reba was a success.

Not to be confused with Reba McEntire (album).

Reba

April 25, 1988

Sound Stage Studios and Emerald Sound, Nashville, TN

35:46

The album was her third #1 country album, and two of its tracks, "I Know How He Feels" and "New Fool at an Old Game," reached No. 1 on the Billboard country singles charts.


A remake of an old jazz vocal standard made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, "Sunday Kind of Love" reached the #5 spot. Also covered was "Respect," a song made famous by Aretha Franklin.


The album debuted at #20 for the week of May 21, 1988, on the Country Albums chart, and peaked at #1 for the week of June 11, 1988. The album stayed at #1 for 6 consecutive weeks.


Three songs from the album, "Do Right By Me", "Wish I Were Only Lonely" and "New Fool At An Old Game", were previously recorded by Michelle Wright on her 1988 album, Do Right By Me.

– lead vocals

Reba McEntire

– acoustic piano, Yamaha DX7

John Barlow Jarvis

– synthesizers

Mike Lawler

– acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki

Pat Flynn

– acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Pam Rose

– electric guitars

Dann Huff

Wayne Nelson – bass guitar

– drums, percussion

Russ Kunkel

Kirk "Jelly Roll" Johnson –

harmonica

Yvonne Hodges – backing vocals

Suzy Hoskins – backing vocals

– backing vocals

Mary Ann Kennedy