Reba Receives Prestigious Honor At 2024 Western Heritage Awards
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - NOVEMBER 05: Reba McEntire performs onstage during Not That Fancy: An Evening With Reba & Friends at Ryman Auditorium on November 05, 2023 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for ABA)
Reba McEntire received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Western Heritage Awards held in Oklahoma City earlier this month. The country icon is now the eighth person to have this prestigious honor in the 63-year history of the awards.
The ceremony was held at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. McEntire was presented with a Wrangler Award and a commemorative Western buckle and belt created by the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, as seen in photos posted by the National Cowboy Museum on Instagram.
“I was honored to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award this past weekend at the Western Heritage Awards. I always want to be the cowgirl that stands up for the underdog, and that’s what this award means to me,” Reba posted to Facebook.
According to nationalcowboymusesum.org, “The Western Heritage Awards honors individuals who have made significant contributions to Western heritage through creative works in literature, music, television and film that share the great stories of the American West.”
The 2024 inductees included Jack LeForce (Hall of Great Westerners / Oklahoma), Buster Welch (Hall of Great Westerners / Texas), Keith Carradine (Hall of Great Western Performers), Noah Beery Jr. (Hall of Great Western Performers), John Smith (Hall of Great Western Performers), Don Reeves (Chester A. Reynolds Award), Mo Brings Plenty (New Horizon), and McEntire (Lifetime Achievement).
Before accepting the award, McEntire shared some advice to young cowgirls and reflected on her life living out West with Cowboys & Indians magazine. “Love yourself. Respect yourself. If you don’t love and respect yourself why would you expect anyone else to,” she said.
McEntire released her latest project, Not That Fancy, in October 2023, which features stripped-down versions of some of the country singer’s biggest hits. It also includes her newest single, “Seven Minutes In Heaven,” and an acoustic version of “Till You Love Me.”
Fans can catch McEntire as a judge on The Voice Mondays on NBC and streaming on Peacock.
Five Reba Music Videos That Are Classics
Long before country music really gripped on to the music video, Reba McEntire was telling her story songs in video format.
To this journalist’s surprise, Reba has never won a CMT Music Award, but in 1991, she won the Video of the Year award at the ACMs for her work on the video “Is There Life Out There.” The song also inspired a TV movie that she acted in.
Over the years, I’ve talked to Reba many times about her life as an actress. She told me once of her dream acting role, “There are a lot of times when I go to movies, and I say, ‘Why didn’t they cast me for that part? I could have done that. A dream role would be ten different kinds because I would like to hit all facets, like the kooky neighbor down the hall or the heroine in a Western.”
She added, “There’s just so many different types. I love to watch television. I love movies, so acting is something that entertains me.”
In 2021, she got to act along with fellow country icon and actress Dolly Parton. She told me of filming the video for “Does He Love You,” “My favorite part about getting to film a music video with Dolly Parton was getting to visit with her in between; second was singing with her. To get to hang out and visit like girlfriends was so much fun. Dolly walked in and said hi to everybody, all the camera people, the crew, and the band there. She’s the sweetheart that you think she’s gonna be. That’s been the case every time I’ve gotten to work with Dolly.”
She added of the experience, “I loved the acting; we got to play-act like we were women at odds, and by the end, we were like, ‘Ah, you can have him. I don’t want him.’ it was a lot of fun.”
Reba has acted in many movies and TV movies over the years and even had her very own TV sitcom to showcase her acting skills. She won a People’s Choice Award in 2002 for her role as Reba Hart in the TV sitcom Reba for “Favorite Female Actress In A New Television Series.”
Here, we take a look at some of the very best Reba music video classics to date.