Reba McEntire Pays Tribute to Late Bandmates on 33rd Anniversary of 1991 Plane Crash: 'Rest in Peace, My Friends'

Reba McEntire is reflecting on the loss of her bandmates, 33 years after their tragic deaths.

On Saturday, the country star, 68, shared an Instagram post that memorialized her eight late band and crew members who died in a plane crash after her concert in San Diego in March 1991.

“I guess the world ain’t gonna stop… for my broken heart,” wrote McEntire, quoting her song "For My Broken Heart," released on an album of the same name later that year. In the post, she also featured a list of those who died: Chris Austin, Kirk Cappello, Joey Cigainero, Paula Kaye Evans, Jim Hammon, Terry Jackson, Tony Saputo and Michael Thomas. 

“33 years today since Heaven gained some great angels,” she wrote in the caption alongside the post. “Rest in peace, my friends.”

The band members were eight of 10 people who died when the jet's wing clipped a rock and crashed into a mountain near the United States–Mexico border. McEntire, her stylist and her then-husband and manager Narvel Blackstock were set to leave San Diego the next day on a different flight.

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"She was very close to all of them. Some of them had been with her for years," a rep for McEntire told the Los Angeles Times at the time. "Reba is totally devastated by this. It's like losing part of your family. Right now she just wants to get back to Nashville."

In 2022, McEntire opened up to PEOPLE about the band members and recalled the moment she learned of their deaths.

"I didn't know if I was going to be able to continue," McEntire said. "But it showed me how precious life is, and by the grace of God and my faith, I realized that they went on to a better place."

While McEntire — who was scheduled to depart on a different plane the morning after the crash —says she "never blamed God" for their deaths, she stated that she has "questions when I get up there."

"From that I learned that you need to take it one day at a time and be very grateful for the things that you have," she says. "Tell folks in your life how much you love and appreciate them."

The actress released For My Broken Heart eight months after the crash and dedicated it to the late musicians, and it later became her best-selling album of all time.

McEntire has reflected on the incident often in the decades since her band members died. In 2020, the star looked back on the losses and the then-recent death of her mother Jacqueline in March.

"29 years ago today, I lost my friends in a plane crash. The timing of Mama's passing with that anniversary seems appropriate," she wrote on Instagram at the time. "I know they're all in Heaven together and taking care of each other. Let's keep finding ways to take care of each other down here on earth and never take one moment with our loved ones for granted."