Reba McEntire shows she's not done yet

Reba McEntire was finished.

At 59 years old, the Country Music Hall of Famer believed country radio was through playing her songs. She understood. She had her time in the spotlight and now it was "everybody else's turn."

Big Machine Label Group President and CEO Scott Borchetta knew McEntire was down. The pair had worked together for more than 20 years at a variety of record labels. She told him her recording career was over. And while the finality of McEntire's revelation left him "crushed," he was determined to prove her wrong.

And, now, he has.

McEntire's new album, "Love Somebody," home to her latest hit, "Going Out Like That," was released Tuesday through the Nash Icon label, a part of Borchetta's Big Machine. The collection is her first new album in five years.

On Sunday McEntire will be honored at the Academy of Country Music Awards with one of the show's 50th anniversary Milestone Awards. McEntire hosted the program 14 times. She's been nominated for every award except Vocal Group of the Year and Top Male Vocalist, and she's won Top Female Vocalist more than any artist in the award show's history.

"If you look back over our history, Reba is synonymous with the ACM Awards," said Lisa Lee, the Academy's senior vice president of creative and content production. "She's been a backbone of the ACMs, one of the reasons that fans have stuck with us all these years. You can't have a 50th celebration and not honor Reba. She's just an icon."

'I couldn't wait'

McEntire wasn't thinking about those things when Borchetta invited her and husband/manager Narvel Blackstock to dinner at Kayne Prime last year. McEntire knew her longtime friend had something up his sleeve.

"I couldn't wait," said McEntire, who turned 60 in March. "After our appetizers, I said 'OK, spill the beans. What do you want?' "

Borchetta asked her if she wanted to go back into the recording studio. She answered in one word: Why?

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Borchetta had worked for three years to convince McEntire to record new music. When she initially turned him down, he started brainstorming ways to make her music competitive.

With the help of Cumulus Media, Borchetta developed a plan to merge contemporary country playlists with popular country songs from the past 25 years. Cumulus Media converted stations to play the format, called Nash Icon, and Borchetta launched a label of the same name that is half owned by the media group. Artists signed to Nash Icon Music receive significant support from Cumulus Media in print and on radio.

Borchetta, who is also a mentor on Fox's "American Idol," wanted McEntire to be the first artist he signed to Nash Icon Music.

When he explained the concept to his friend over dinner, he saw the fire return to her eyes.

"That was the moment of reigniting Big Red," Borchetta said.

McEntire called Borchetta's idea "genius" and said she was thrilled to get another chance to go back into the studio.

"I missed it so bad," she said. "I love the competition of being on the charts and seeing how it goes week to week. I missed the game. It really is a game. It's politics. It's all of the above."

When McEntire left the meal, her husband drove. From the passenger's seat, the singer frantically texted Borchetta's vice president of A&R Alison Jones to help her find the best songs for her new album. Choosing the songs took months.

"If it touches my heart in some way. If it makes me sad. If it makes me feel. If it raises the hair on my arms, I know that it's a very emotional, good song," McEntire said. "It's that spirit of music inside of me that says, 'Go with that one.' "

McEntire chose songs from some of Nashville's most successful songwriters for "Love Somebody," which Borchetta believes is one of the strongest albums of her career.

Her favorite cuts include Shane McAnally, Lori McKenna and Josh Osborne's "Until They Don't Love You," because she's eager to perform it live. McEntire loves Ella Mae Bowen and Tommy Lee James' break-up song "I'll Go On" because she thinks it will "annihilate" people "in that state of mind." And she hopes fans will find encouragement and faith in Jim Collins and Ashley Gorley's "That's When I Knew."

"They've got a purpose, all of them do," McEntire said of her songs.

New goal

Seated on a couch in a recording studio at her management office, McEntire remembered that she was several albums into her career before she was allowed to choose her own songs. Her producer, Jerry Kennedy, wanted her to sing waltzes, but when he played her an up-tempo song he planned to pitch to another artist, she spoke up.

"I said 'Good Lord, Jerry. Why don't you ever play me any songs like this?' He said, 'You mean you would record that?' " she recalled.

The song was "Can't Even Get the Blues." In 1983 it became her first No. 1 song — about seven years into her country music career. To date McEntire has charted 35 No. 1 songs and sold more than 56 million albums.

The songs she's being pitched have changed since the 1980s. She said they're more pop, but that doesn't stop her. If the song's contemporary sound gives Blackstock pause, McEntire suggests they change the instrumentation to make it more country.

"I like music," she said. "To me there's only two types of songs — good and bad, and I try to stick to the good ones. I don't know why you have to stay away from certain types of songs because they are in a category. My heart wouldn't just swell when I listened to it if it wasn't the right song for me."

When it comes time to make her next album, McEntire has a new goal: She wants to work with Jay Joyce, who produces Eric Church and Little Big Town. Although, she admitted, she's not sure he wants to work with her. She's curious what types of songs the edgy Joyce would have her sing, and what changes he would make to her sound.

With so much passion still remaining for music — when she stops to think about it — McEntire said she was never actually finished.

"I would have recorded again, for other reasons," she said. "Maybe it's a gospel album. Maybe it's an inspirational album, but I would have come back and recorded again. I certainly don't need to record just for radio, just for the sales — it's for the love of it now."

Reach Cindy Watts at 615-664-2227 or ciwatts@tennessean.com.

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'The scariest thing in the world'

Reba McEntire has hosted the Academy of Country Music Awards 14 times and won seven trophies for Top Female Vocalist, but it is still "the scariest thing in the world" when she has to sing in front of her peers.

McEntire will perform her new hit, "Going Out Like That," on the 50th ACM Awards, which air at 7 p.m. Sunday on CBS. When she does, she's sure her fellow country singers will be sizing her up.

"It's the most nerve-wracking place to perform," McEntire said. "They're down there going, 'Hmmm, I wonder why she wore that dress? Hmmm, is she wearing high heels?' It's very critiquing. In my mind, that's what's happening."

As a former host, when she's in the audience, McEntire is paying special attention to the awards show's two hosts: Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan.

"They are two very funny, talented men, and I think the more they do it they're going to get better," McEntire said. "It's going to get really good this year because they are more secure in their own skin now. It's going to be a piece of cake for them."

As for the show's move to Arlington, Texas, from Las Vegas, McEntire gives that a cautious thumbs up, too.

"It's not going to be as personable as it is in Vegas or as it was at the Grand Ole Opry years ago, but it will be fine," she said. "It will be different."

TUNE IN

The 50th Academy of Country Music Awards will air live on CBS at 7 p.m. Sunday from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.