50 Years Ago: Reba McEntire Receives Her Big Break

History 15 Comments


Currently in Las Vegas, the National Finals Rodeo, or NFR is happening, which over the years has also become an important event in the country music calendar. With the rise of interest in traditional country and the resurgence in Western music, NFR is showcasing some of the best in country this week such as Zach Top and Larry Fleet. It’s also a good reminder of the history that country music and NFR have together.

You might see Reba McEntire’s Hall of Fame country career, her long career in acting in multiple television series, and her half a century in the public eye, and conclude that showbiz is what she always dreamed of doing. But that’s not exactly the case. It was actually her mother’s dream, but one that Reba’s mother never got to live, until she was able to live it through Reba. And it all started 50 years ago today at NFR in Oklahoma City on December 10th, 1974.

Reba came from a family with a strong rodeo background. Her grandfather was a world champion steer roper in the 1930s, and her father Clark McEntire also won the the steer roping championship in 1957, 1958, and 1961. Reba grew up on a cattle farm where she regularly worked with the livestock, including castrating steers. She also competed some in the rodeo herself as a barrel racer.

On the car rides back and forth to her father’s rodeo competitions, Reba’s mother taught her and her two siblings how to sing and harmonize together. It went from a way to pass the time to a proper singing trio called The Singing McEntires. They became regular performers at local functions, dance halls, and sometimes rodeos. As the siblings all started to graduate high school, the band naturally dissolved.

After Reba graduated from high school in 1973, she enrolled in Southeastern Oklahoma State University, majoring in elementary education with a minor in music. While attending college, her father encouraged her to take a gig singing the National Anthem at NFR in Oklahoma City in 1974, and she decided to do it.


For Reba, it was just a moment to perform the “Star Spangled Banner.” But in the crowd that day was legendary country songwriter and performer Red Steagall.

“After the rodeo, we all went up to the Justin [Boots] suite at the Hilton and we were all in this big suite and the guys were passing the guitar around, and somebody asked me to sing ‘Jolene,’ no ‘Joshua,’” Reba later recalled. Red Steagall was so impressed, he decided he wanted to help Reba get a recording contract.

Reba’s mother Jacqueline tried to convince Red Steagall to get all three of her children signed to a Nashville record label. After traveling back to Nashville, Steagall informed Reba’s mother, “I can’t take all three. But I could take Reba. She’s got something a little different.”

At first, Reba McEntire was a little reluctant to pursue a music career. She would eventually stay back in Oklahoma and finish her degree in education at Southeastern Oklahoma State. On her first trip to Nashville, Reba kept making excuses to stop or turn the car around. Reba’s mom eventually said, “Now Reba, let me tell you something. If you don’t want to go to Nashville, we don’t have to do this. But I’m living all my dreams through you.”

This is what finally convinced Reba that she should go forward with music. Eventually she recorded a demo tape, and was singed to PolyGram/Mercury Records in 1976. The rest as they say, is history.

Over the years, the National Anthem has been a gateway for many country stars to find their first opportunities. LeAnn Rimes got her start singing the “Star Spangled Banner,” and Mickey Guyton was inspired to pursue music after seeing LeAnn Rimes sing it at a baseball game. National Anthem performances are not just a perfunctory exercise. As the career of Reba McEntire attests, they can be the opening to a major singing career. And so can a big performance at NFR.

Reba McEntire has gone on to have 25 #1 singles and sold 75 million albums. Reba returned to sing the National Anthem at NFR in 2017, and in 2024, she sung the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.


© 2025 Saving Country Music

, , , ,