Author: Ms Bich

Dolly Parton Reveals She Recorded A Duet With Reba McEntire

Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire have a duet on the way! In a recent interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Parton shared that she is McEntire just “cut” a new version of “Does He…

Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire; Photo Courtesy of CMA

Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire have a duet on the way!

In a recent interview with Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Parton shared that she is McEntire just “cut” a new version of “Does He Love You,” a track originally by McEntire featuring Linda Davis. “Does He Love You” was the first single, released in August 1993, from McEntire’s compilation album, Greatest Hits Volume Two.

The new version of the song will be apart of a project being released by McEntire in the near future.

“It turned out really good. I’ve always wanted to sing with her,” Parton admitted to Cohen, while also explaining how she’s unsure why a duet between to two country icons hasn’t already happened.

“We really sounded good together,” Parton added. “I think the fans are gonna like it.”

Watch the full video clip talking about the duet below.

WATCH: Reba McEntire & Dolly Parton Make Country Music Fan’s Dreams Come True With “Does He Love You” Duet

Longtime friends and two of country music’s most prominent female superstars, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, teamed up for a new version of the 1993 chart-topper, “Does He Love You.” The reprised version of the GRAMMY-winning song is featured on…

Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire; Photo Courtesy Facebook

Longtime friends and two of country music’s most prominent female superstars, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, teamed up for a new version of the 1993 chart-topper, “Does He Love You.”

The reprised version of the GRAMMY-winning song is featured on McEntire’s just-released new project, Revived Remixed Revisited, a three-part box set that gives new life to some of the Country Music Hall of Fame member’s most beloved hits.

“Does He Love You” is included on the Revisited portion of the box set, which was produced by award-winning producer Dave Cobb.

The buzzed-about collaboration marks the first-ever duet for McEntire, 66, and Parton, 75.

“I’m shell shocked. How have we not done one?” Reba shared in a new Billboard interview. “Every time I’d hear Dolly doing a duet with somebody else, I would get a little sad or jealous, like, ‘I want to do a duet with Dolly.’”

Still, she added, “Everything happens for a reason and timing is everything. So it worked out perfectly.”

Parton previously opened up about the collaboration, calling it the “perfect pairing.”

 

 

McEntire and Parton’s version of the iconic duet comes nearly three decades after the original release, which featured Linda Davis, however, this time, McEntire says they went about it differently.

“The way that Dolly and I approached it, it’s like confrontation on Valium. It’s kind of like, ‘I know you. You know me. We’re adults.’ Whereas when I did it with Linda, that was mid-‘90s, and it was like cat fight city. Now it’s like, ‘I don’t like him. Do you like him? You can have him.’ So it was totally different. It was confrontation, but not hatred,” the Oklahoma native explained.

The Grand Ole Opry members brought the song to life with a brand-new music video, featuring McEntire and Parton in a smoky, candlelit bar.

The video, which premiered on Friday, October 8 via Facebook, and pays homage to the original music video.

The Dano Cerny-directed clip, filmed in Nashville, opens with McEntire entering the bar before she sits at a table with a glass of whiskey. Parton soon after appears on a barstool with a glass of wine, she then joins McEntire at the table as they sang the powerful tune to each other while a house band plays.

The powerhouse vocalists then take to the stage to demand your attention with an impressive live performance of the duet. Concluding with some hilarious commentary, McEntire tells Parton, “you can just have that ol’ boy, I don’t want ’em” before Parton replies, “I don’t want him either. Let’s find us a new man.”

“I like the way you’re thinkin’” McEntire told Parton with a laugh.

 

 

Revived Remixed Revisited also features fan-favorite tracks such as “Little Rock,” “I’m A Survivor,” “Fancy” and “Is There Life Out There.”
Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire; Photo Courtesy YouTube
Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire; Photo Courtesy Facebook

When Reba McEntire gave birth to her son Shelby Blackstock in 1990, she knew she wanted to raise him to become a humble person. Making sure Shelby wasn’t “spoiled” was top of mind for her, and there are some specific ways she instilled good values into her son.

“When we would play games or cards, I’d never let Shelby win,” she tells People in a new interview.

“He wouldn’t have learned anything that way. I always told Shelby, ‘I’ll always love you, but I want other people to like you,’” she adds, “‘So don’t be a little jerk. Don’t be a spoiled brat.’”

Shelby took the hardworking attitude he learned from his mom into his career as a professional race car driver, and McEntire says people have commented on his demeanor — even to this day.

“A lot of people have told me, ‘You would never know [he] had been blessed with the life he was given,’” she shares.

“I’m very proud of him,” McEntire continues. “He was a kid who had ADHD and could barely read in school, and now he’s read 10 books this year. He’s always trying to improve and do better. His daddy [Narvel Blackstock] did a great job too.”

McEntire is busy these days balancing her music career and her acting career (she currently has a role on ABC’s Big Sky), and when she was raising Shelby, she was just as busy on tour and starring in her sitcom Reba. The singer says she had plenty of help during those days, and she spent as much time with her son as she could between shows.

“I had the best nannies, and I took him on the road with me,” she reveals. “When I couldn’t, I would fly home after a concert, get him up in the morning, take him to school and pick him up. We’d play until I had to fly out again for a concert that night. I wanted to be with Shelby. Still do.”

McEntire also reveals that she felt somewhat “self-centered” before welcoming Shelby with ex Narvel Blackstock, and she and her son remain close to this day.

“Shelby is a gift from God to me,” she adds. “We’re very close. I was a very self-centered person to a degree before Shelby. But then there’s a little character who you are given the job to protect and nurture and love and teach, so all the attention’s not on you anymore.”

Shelby Blackstock married earlier this year — see photos here.

10 Surprising Things You Never Knew About Reba McEntire:

1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.

Tommaso Boddi, Getty Images

1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.

In 2006, McEntire told Entertainment Weekly that she and the former president keep in touch via email. “Matter of fact, I was in New York one time during the World Series watching the game, and I saw President Bush and Barbara sittin’ behind home plate. I get on my Treo, and I e-mail him, ‘Hey, I see you on TV. Have a hot dog for me.’ I see him elbowing Barbara, and pointin’ down to his Treo. Then he’s just workin’ on it. Pretty soon I get a message back from him: ‘Wait ’til so-and-so gets up to bat, and I’ll wave at ya.’”

2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.

True story! McEntire’s hit WB television show Reba almost had a different name. Actually, it almost had a completely different lead! McEntire tells country radio DJ Bobby Bones that the show was actually meant to star iconic actor Sally Field (hence the show’s name). When Field turned the project down, McEntire stepped in, but producers wanted to keep the show’s (and her character’s) name the same; in fact, they even taped two versions of the pilot episode, one with her character’s name as Sally and one with her name as Reba.

It gets even wilder, though: During “upfronts” — when a network promotes its lineup — McEntire says the show was called Deep in the Heart, because it’s set in the Houston, Texas, area. It wasn’t until the very last minute that the show’s title was changed to Reba — and, really, thank goodness it was!

3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.

McEntire’s 1993 duet with Linda Davis was originally intended to be with another country legend. She once told Country Weekly that her label was pushing for Wynonna Judd to share vocals on “Does He Love You,” a song that produced a somewhat controversial and definitely dramatic music video. McEntire wanted Davis (mother to Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum), so she suggested that Davis record it as a fill-in. “But she just knocked it out of the ballpark,” McEntire says — so they kept her.

4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.

David Becker, Getty Images for SiriusXM

4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.

George Strait’s No. 1 hit from 1984 could have gone to McEntire, but the singer says she passed on “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” because it made a reference to beer. The song ended up as the title track on Strait’s fourth album, and McEntire notched her own No. 1 hit that year with “How Blue.”

5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.

Jason Kempin, Getty Images for ACM

5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.

Yeah, McEntire somehow has spare time. She tells  the Boot that she loves to “piddle” with her camera (“I love when people send me pictures that I don’t have,” she adds). Other things she enjoys doing her spare time: trap and skeet shooting, and going on vacations.

6. There are three singing McEntires.

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

6. There are three singing McEntires.

Reba isn’t the only McEntire with a country hit. Her brother Pake scored a Top 5 hit with “Savin’ My Love for You” in 1986, and her sister Susie is a gospel singer. When they were young, the family band was quite a local sensation; they played rodeos throughout the Midwest until Reba went off to college. All three were accustomed to life on the road by that point, so when she set off on her own, she often knew how to handle a map better than her bus driver.

7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …

David J. Phillip, Getty Images

7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …

She didn’t get the job. Hill was looking to be a backup singer, but McEntire says she didn’t think the future star was right for the gig. It ended up being a life-saving rejection: Paula Kay Evans was the singer who got the job, and she was one of McEntire’s eight band and crew members killed in a plane crash near San Diego, Calif., in March of 1991. Hill says she doesn’t think fate had anything to do with it: “I wasn’t a great background singer, and I didn’t get the part,” she tells Larry King.

8. She “tended” to the bulls.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

8. She “tended” to the bulls.

In her 1995 autobiography, McEntire talks about her early days with the bulls: It was her job to help castrate them, and afterward, she and her two sisters would carry a bucket of testicles to the house and clean them.

“We called them mountain oysters,” she writes (quote via Country Weekly). “Then we’d take them in to Mama, and she’d slice them thin, roll them in flour and fry them in hot grease in a huge cast-iron skillet. I was literally raised on mountain oysters.”

Is it any wonder the singer became a superstar in a industry dominated by men?

9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.

Isaac Brekken, Getty Images for ACM

9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.

You see, Jennings had given up his seat on the plane that crashed on Feb. 3, 1959, killing Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and others, so he was one of very few people who could relate to McEntire’s anguish. In her autobiography, she tells how he encouraged her not to feel guilty: “It wasn’t meant for you to be on that plane or you would have been. So don’t blame yourself, and don’t feel guilty,” she says Jennings told her.

10. She wanted to be a teacher.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

10. She wanted to be a teacher.

McEntire’s mom was a schoolteacher, and the future star majored in elementary education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University while minoring in music. Raise your hand if you wish this country legend was the one teaching you the “three Rs” all those years ago … We imagine she’d be the Mary Poppins of the classroom!

Reba McEntire’s For My Broken Heart was, indeed, a salve. At the time of its release, on Oct. 1, 1991 — 31 years ago today — the singer was mourning the deaths of most of her band in a plane crash that happened just over six months prior.

The 10 songs on For My Broken Heart, McEntire shared in the album’s liner notes, were chosen to serve as “a form of healing for all our broken hearts.” McEntire co-wrote just one of the songs, “Bobby,” the story of a man imprisoned for killing his ailing wife who reconciles with his son years later.

McEntire led For My Broken Heart with its title track, released just one day prior to the album’s arrival. The song, written by Liz Hengber and Keith Palmer, rose to No. 1 on the country radio chart by early December. “Is There Life Out There,” another chart-topper, followed, as did the now-classic “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” (No. 12 on the charts) and “The Greatest Man I Never Knew,” a Top 5 single.

Reba McEntire – For My Broken Heart (Official Music Video)

Upon its debut, For My Broken Heart debuted in the Top 5 on the country albums chart, then climbed from No. 4 to No. 3, where it stayed for seven consecutive weeks. The album stayed in the Top 10 on that chart for 20 consecutive weeks, and, with its No. 13 peak on the all-genre Billboard 200, was McEntire’s highest-charting album on that chart at the time. It’s been certified four-times platinum.

McEntire also notched several major awards nominations thanks to For My Broken Heart: At the 1992 CMA Awards, she was nominated for Entertainer of the Year, Female Vocalist of the Year, Album of the Year and Music Video of the Year; at the 1992 Grammy Awards, the album earned McEntire a Best Female Country Vocal Performance nod.

The 1992 ACM Awards were a particularly special night, however. McEntire was nominated three times — for Entertainer of the Year, Top Female Vocalist and Video of the Year — and she won twice, in the Video and Female Vocalist categories. She dedicated the latter to “my eight buddies” in an emotional acceptance speech.

“I think country music has got some of the best people in it,” McEntire said, offering gratitude to those who supported her in the months after the crash. “I want you to know it means the world to me.”

Reba McEntire Wins Top Female Vocalist – ACM Awards 1991

The March 16, 1991, plane crash in San Diego, Calif., killed seven of McEntire’s band members and her tour manager, as well as the plane’s pilot and co-pilot, when the plane crashed into a nearby mountain shortly after takeover. A second plane carrying other members of McEntire’s band and crew flew safely, while McEntire, her then-husband and -manager, Narvel Blackstock, and her stylist, Sandy Spika, were safe because they had stayed overnight in the area.

WATCH: You Think You Know Reba McEntire?

Ty Herndon’s life and musical journey has seen its ups and downs. In his darkest hour, Reba McEntire offered him life-altering advice that he still holds onto today.

Ty Herndon’s life and musical journey has seen its ups and downs. His initial musical success came during the 1990s, but his life took a turn in the early 2000s when he entered rehabilitation for a drug and alcohol addiction. He returned to music in the late 2000s, however, releasing his album, Right About Now, in 2007.

“I felt like a stranger to a business that I absolutely know everything about,” Herndon tells Taste of Country Nights’ Evan Paul of his return. “I moved out to Los Angeles . . . and it’s like, you blink your eyes and six years have gone by. I haven’t made any music. I’ve been having way too much fun.”

When he returned to making music, Reba McEntire shared some important advice with him about restarting his career that he still holds onto today.

“I remember something that Reba told me a long time ago,” he continues. “‘If we’re in this business, we’re going to have to reinvent ourselves all the time,’ she goes. ‘But the foundation of you and your eyeballs and who you are will stay in your music.’ She said, ‘Reinvention is kind of listening to who the cool new songwriters are, who the cool new producers are, who’s an excellent drummer that played on somebody’s record ten years ago but is kind of having a comeback. You find people that are really in it to win it.”

These days, Herndon is reinventing himself yet again. He released his latest album, Jacob, on July 15, which comes after another low point in his life. In 2020, Herndon’s crystal meth addiction took hold again, and he nearly died. At his lowest point, he was sitting in his apartment with 27 Ambien tablets in his hand, ready to end his life, he told People.

Herndon shared more about his addiction journey and his new album with Taste of Country earlier this month.

“I thought to myself, ‘I’m not going to get out of this alive.’ And a calmness came over me, man,” he said. “It was the most peaceful thing. I made a decision that I was gonna leave this earth. You know, I did it. I’m leaving a legacy of music. I’m leaving some pretty good things behind. My family is peaceful. My nephew is grown. It’s a good time to go. People are going to remember you in a good place.”

Many of Reba McEntire’s fans already know that philanthropy is important to the singer: Over the years, she’s lent her support to organizations including the Salvation Army, Habitat for Humanity, the Texoma Medical Center and more, plus her Reba’s Ranch House in Texas helps people have a place to stay while supporting their hospitalized loved ones.

She’s also a frequent supporter of Celebrity Fight Night, an annual charity event that draws stars from all corners of show business to raise money for cancer research. At an Arizona Fight Night event in mid-March, McEntire was part of the evening’s entertainment, and she also auctioned off a chance for one fan to have dinner with her in Nashville.

But that evening, McEntire wound up giving a little more to charity than she bargained for, the singer recounted to Taste of Country and other outlets during a recent press event.

“I was the emcee, and I was wearing this beautiful gown that Johnathan Kayne made for me,” she says. “It was beautiful, and had big bell sleeves. So I auctioned off a dinner to whoever wanted to go have dinner with me, and after that, I said, ‘Does anybody want this dress?’ Of course, the women kinda perked up, and they said, ‘Yeah.’”

So McEntire made the impromptu decision to auction off her dress.

“We auctioned it off for $150,000,” she continues, adding that the woman who bought it said that not only did she want it — she wanted to walk out of the event with it.

“I had to go change clothes. I had to get my jeans on,” McEntire recounts. “Because…the woman who bought it, I know her, and she said, ‘No, I want it tonight. I don’t want you to take it home and dry clean it — I want you to give it to me now.’

“I said, ‘Okay.’ And I went and got my jeans and boots on,” the singer adds. It was all in the name of a good cause, after all — the money went to funding cancer research.

Of course, McEntire has rocked plenty of iconic red carpet looks over the years, and she says she’s still got a cache of some of her all-time best looks in a climate-controlled storage unit where they’ll be safe — that is, until the next time she decides to pull one out for a surprise auction.

10 Surprising Things You Never Knew About Reba McEntire:

1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.

Tommaso Boddi, Getty Images

1. She’s pals with former President George H. W. Bush.

In 2006, McEntire told Entertainment Weekly that she and the former president keep in touch via email. “Matter of fact, I was in New York one time during the World Series watching the game, and I saw President Bush and Barbara sittin’ behind home plate. I get on my Treo, and I e-mail him, ‘Hey, I see you on TV. Have a hot dog for me.’ I see him elbowing Barbara, and pointin’ down to his Treo. Then he’s just workin’ on it. Pretty soon I get a message back from him: ‘Wait ’til so-and-so gets up to bat, and I’ll wave at ya.’”

2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

2. ‘Reba’ was almost called ‘Sally’.

True story! McEntire’s hit WB television show Reba almost had a different name. Actually, it almost had a completely different lead! McEntire tells country radio DJ Bobby Bones that the show was actually meant to star iconic actor Sally Field (hence the show’s name). When Field turned the project down, McEntire stepped in, but producers wanted to keep the show’s (and her character’s) name the same; in fact, they even taped two versions of the pilot episode, one with her character’s name as Sally and one with her name as Reba.

It gets even wilder, though: During “upfronts” — when a network promotes its lineup — McEntire says the show was called Deep in the Heart, because it’s set in the Houston, Texas, area. It wasn’t until the very last minute that the show’s title was changed to Reba — and, really, thank goodness it was!

3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.

Kevin Winter, Getty Images

3. Wynonna Judd was the first choice for her “Does He Love You” duet partner.

McEntire’s 1993 duet with Linda Davis was originally intended to be with another country legend. She once told Country Weekly that her label was pushing for Wynonna Judd to share vocals on “Does He Love You,” a song that produced a somewhat controversial and definitely dramatic music video. McEntire wanted Davis (mother to Hillary Scott of Lady Antebellum), so she suggested that Davis record it as a fill-in. “But she just knocked it out of the ballpark,” McEntire says — so they kept her.

4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.

David Becker, Getty Images for SiriusXM

4. She passed on a No. 1 hit for George Strait.

George Strait’s No. 1 hit from 1984 could have gone to McEntire, but the singer says she passed on “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” because it made a reference to beer. The song ended up as the title track on Strait’s fourth album, and McEntire notched her own No. 1 hit that year with “How Blue.”

5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.

Jason Kempin, Getty Images for ACM

5. In her spare time, she enjoys photography.

Yeah, McEntire somehow has spare time. She tells  the Boot that she loves to “piddle” with her camera (“I love when people send me pictures that I don’t have,” she adds). Other things she enjoys doing her spare time: trap and skeet shooting, and going on vacations.

6. There are three singing McEntires.

Amy Sussman, Getty Images

6. There are three singing McEntires.

Reba isn’t the only McEntire with a country hit. Her brother Pake scored a Top 5 hit with “Savin’ My Love for You” in 1986, and her sister Susie is a gospel singer. When they were young, the family band was quite a local sensation; they played rodeos throughout the Midwest until Reba went off to college. All three were accustomed to life on the road by that point, so when she set off on her own, she often knew how to handle a map better than her bus driver.

7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …

David J. Phillip, Getty Images

7. Faith Hill auditioned for her band, but …

She didn’t get the job. Hill was looking to be a backup singer, but McEntire says she didn’t think the future star was right for the gig. It ended up being a life-saving rejection: Paula Kay Evans was the singer who got the job, and she was one of McEntire’s eight band and crew members killed in a plane crash near San Diego, Calif., in March of 1991. Hill says she doesn’t think fate had anything to do with it: “I wasn’t a great background singer, and I didn’t get the part,” she tells Larry King.

8. She “tended” to the bulls.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

8. She “tended” to the bulls.

In her 1995 autobiography, McEntire talks about her early days with the bulls: It was her job to help castrate them, and afterward, she and her two sisters would carry a bucket of testicles to the house and clean them.

“We called them mountain oysters,” she writes (quote via Country Weekly). “Then we’d take them in to Mama, and she’d slice them thin, roll them in flour and fry them in hot grease in a huge cast-iron skillet. I was literally raised on mountain oysters.”

Is it any wonder the singer became a superstar in a industry dominated by men?

9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.

Isaac Brekken, Getty Images for ACM

9. After that plane crash, she turned to Waylon Jennings.

You see, Jennings had given up his seat on the plane that crashed on Feb. 3, 1959, killing Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and others, so he was one of very few people who could relate to McEntire’s anguish. In her autobiography, she tells how he encouraged her not to feel guilty: “It wasn’t meant for you to be on that plane or you would have been. So don’t blame yourself, and don’t feel guilty,” she says Jennings told her.

10. She wanted to be a teacher.

Ethan Miller, Getty Images

10. She wanted to be a teacher.

McEntire’s mom was a schoolteacher, and the future star majored in elementary education at Southeastern Oklahoma State University while minoring in music. Raise your hand if you wish this country legend was the one teaching you the “three Rs” all those years ago … We imagine she’d be the Mary Poppins of the classroom!

Reba McEntire is officially a mother-in-law: Her son, Shelby Blackstock, has tied the knot with his fiancée, Marissa Branch. Both members of the couple shared snippets of their fairytale wedding ceremony on social media, and by the looks of it, their nuptials went down on Saturday night (Feb. 12.)

The wedding took place in Walt Disney World, the same spot where Blackstock proposed during a New Year’s trip at the end of 2020. Per her Instagram, Branch is a “Self-proclaimed Disney princess,” so it was only appropriate that the ceremony was straight out of a fairytale: The altar was decked out with flowers, with the Disney Magic Castle glowing in the background.

After they tied the knot, Branch and Blackstock took a ride in a Cinderella-esque horse-drawn carriage and celebrated with friends and family right on the Magic Castle steps. One of Blackstock’s Instagram stories features his mother-son dance with his country superstar mom, who wore a floor-length black gown for the occasion. Their song choice was extra poignant: The mother and son danced to McEntire’s own 2005 release “You’re Gonna Be (Always Loved By Me,)” which tells the story of a parent’s love for her child.

Blackstock’s first dance song with his new bride had a country connection, too: He and Branch danced to Kacey Musgraves’ “Butterflies.” Flip through the photos below to see all the behind-the-scenes moments from the celebration:

Instagram

Instagram

Instagram

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Instagram

Blackstock is McEntire’s only child. His dad is Narvel Blackstock, whom McEntire divorced in 2015. He is 31 years old and an accomplished race car driver who dropped out of college to pursue the sport full-time. His older half-brother, Brandon, is Kelly Clarkson’s ex-husband.

What Rumored Budget Cuts Mean For Reba McEntire’s Future on ‘The Voice’

Reba McEntire seems to be a hit with viewers and a worthy addition to The Voice. However, rumors are swirling that the show is looking to cut down on costs. What does this mean for McEntire’s chances of returning next season?

First off, we should approach rumors with a certain amount of hesitancy. Still, there’s an old saying “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” An inside source close to the show told The U.S. Sun that the network is “tightening spending.” However, it is not looking to tank the show with a shoestring budget, but it does want to shave down on costs.

In particular, they’re targeting the “talent budget” for the show. “There is a substantial trimming of costs and ways of looking at not increasing spending,” the anonymous insider said. “You can trim the budgets here and there but the reality is that the biggest fees come from the judges’ pay…Losing a couple of staff members saves you hundreds of thousands of dollars, but bringing in a freeze on pay raises and lesser deals for talent is a way to trim millions.”

So what does that mean for McEntire? Well, the singer reportedly has one of the higher salaries on the show. The insider said that she is getting around $13 million a season. Past judges like Niall Horan made around $8 million for instance. However, Adam Levine made around $14.5 million. The network is reportedly firm on not increasing the salary for future seasons. So, it won’t be offering McEntire a raise.

Will Reba McEntire Return for a Future Season?

“It’s understood there is no room for that figure to rise, so very quietly behind the scenes private talks are taking place with agents and talent about those deals,” the insider said. “There are a few household names that would happily take a $8 million payday, which is the lower end of the earnings for stars.”

If McEntire is happy with her current salary, then she’d likely stay for future seasons. However, pay disputes can quickly get messy behind the scenes so who knows? Of course, McEntire may take a break from the show for an entirely different reason as coaches on the show often do.

So far, the musician seems to be enjoying her time on the show. She recently shut down rumors that she was leaving the show.

“Please do not click on any articles that say I am leaving The Voice. This is not true,” the singer shared the same note on X. “These are fake websites to lure people in with clickbait where they claim I have a company to sell weight loss gummy products,” she cautioned. “This is false. I do not sell or promote any type of gummy product. Please report these posts if you see them on Facebook or Instagram.”

Reba McEntire ‘Felt Used’ During Her Marriage to Narvel Blackstock: ‘She Hates to Believe It’

It’s been nearly 10 years since Reba McEntire got her walking papers from ex-husband Narvel Blackstock, but friends say the songbird’s emotions are still raw — and she now believes he used the marriage to pad his pockets!

“It was a situation that was always business,” says the country queen. “Whether we were getting ready in the morning, pillow talk, whatever, but it was business” — even on supposedly romantic vacations!

Reba, now 69, hired Narvel to play steel guitar in her touring band back in 1980. He worked his way up to tour manager, personal manager and finally husband when the pair tied the knot in 1989.

But Reba didn’t appreciate “in any shape, form or fashion” the divorce Narvel, 67, cooked up in 2015 to end their 26-year marriage.

Still, Reba got her revenge when Narvel’s Starstruck Entertainment agency took major hits. Not only did Reba pull out, but Kelly Clarkson ditched them in 2020 on the heels of her divorce from Narvel’s son from his first marriage — Brandon Blackstock, who was also her manager.

Soon afterward, Narvel’s sole remaining superstar client, Blake Shelton, left his management in 2021. “Reba says she hates to believe it, but after she turned 60, she thinks Narvel was feeling she wasn’t going to be a big moneymaker so he didn’t want to stay in the marriage,” a pal tells Closer. “She ended up feeling used. But it turned out his company took a nosedive after their divorce, so Reba can look back and say the decision blew up in Narvel’s face!”

Reba McEntire and her team suffered an unimaginable loss on March 16, 1991. That was the day that a plane crash claimed the lives of seven members of the star’s band, plus her tour manager. But it was only a small twist of fate — and a case of bronchitis — that kept the country superstar herself from boarding that plane.

Here’s the scenario: On March 15, McEntire played a private show in the San Diego, Calif., area for a group of IBM executives. After the show, the team planned to fly from San Diego to Fort Wayne, Ind., for their next gig. But McEntire was still on the mend from a bout with bronchitis, and she elected to stay back in San Diego for a night with her then-husband, Narvel Blackstock, and stylist, Sandy Spika.

The rest of the crew left in two aircraft from a Southern San Diego airstrip at 1:45AM on March 16, but they never made it to Fort Wayne. The first of the two planes to take off crashed into an Otay Mountain peak just east of the airstrip, killing all 10 people on board. Those were McEntire’s tour manager, crew and band members, plus the pilot and co-pilot operating the plane.

McEntire’s illness might well have saved her life that night. If she had felt well enough to travel, there’s a 50/50 chance she could have been on the plane that crashed. But there’s one more country superstar who had a near-miss experience with the fatal crash, too.

One of the members of McEntire’s team killed in the crash was a backup singer named Paula Kay Evans, who’d gotten a job touring with McEntire’s band. The person she beat out for that position? A young soon-to-be star named Faith Hill.

Reba McEntire marked the 33rd anniversary of a devastating plane crash that killed seven of her band members and her tour manager in a post to social media on Saturday (March 16), writing, “Rest in peace, my friends.”

The country icon lost her band members and her tour manager in a plane crash that took place after she and her band performed a private show in San Diego on March 16, 1991.

Two planes were waiting at Brown Field Municipal Airport to transport the musicians to Fort Wayne, Ind., to perform their next scheduled concert. The band and tour manager flew on ahead while McEntire, her then-husband and manager Narvel Blackstock and her stylist, Sandi Spika, opted to stay the night in San Diego.

The second plane proceeded to its destination without incident, but the first plane carrying McEntire’s entourage went down just ten miles east of the airport, shortly after takeoff.

“The tip of the wing of the airplane hit a rock on the side of Otay Mountain, and it killed everyone on the plane,” McEntire recounted in a tearful interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2012.

“When we were notified, Narvel went and met with our pilot, and he told us what had happened. And Narvel came back to the hotel room where I was — it was two or three o’clock in the morning — and he said one of the planes had crashed, and I said, ‘Are they OK?’ He said, ‘I don’t think so.’ I said, ‘But you’re not sure?’ He said, ‘I don’t think so.’”

Fellow country stars including Vince Gill and Dolly Parton offered McEntire the use of their own bands to finish her tour, but she chose not to continue. She dedicated her next album, For My Broken Heart, to the band members she had lost, and the project reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, going on to sell four million copies.

“33 years today since Heaven gained some great angels,” McEntire wrote on Twitter on Saturday, adding, “Rest in peace, my friends.”

The country legend listed the names of her departed friends and bandmates in her post, adding a lyric from the title song of the album she dedicated to them: “I guess the world ain’t gonna stop … for my broken heart.”

33 years today since Heaven gained some great angels. Rest in peace, my friends. pic.twitter.com/CQoaCkQXuT

— Reba McEntire (@reba) March 16, 2024