Reba McEntire has delivered a highly anticipated DVD of her first ever solo headlining show at the Ryman Auditorium in 2017, hosted by Gospel music legend Bill Gaither and featuring special guests Trisha Yearwood, Kelly Clarkson and The Isaacs.
The iconic songstress has also released an accompanying 12-track album, “My Chains Are Gone.”
During an interview with Music Mayhem and other media outlets, McEntire shared the inspiration for the album and what she hopes fans will take away from the collection of hymns and gospel favorites.
When it came to picking the title, McEntire chose My Chains Are Gone because it resonated with how she was feeling. She reminisced about her baptism and those of her siblings and parents.
“I was baptized when I was 12,” she shared. Her family had just moved from Chockie to Kiowa in Oklahoma. “We started going to Kiowa, where we all went to school,” she added. “And that’s where I got baptized and Susie and Alice and Pake got baptized later on. Daddy got baptized at String Town.”
It wasn’t until 2015 when her mother decided to become baptized.
“When mama was 87… She went to church and had never been baptized. And so she went to church and walked down the aisle when they had altar call and Joey Lansdale, the preacher there at String Town said, ‘Jackie, what can I do for you?’ And she said, ‘Well, preacher, I’ve come to turn myself in. I’m tired of doing it by myself.’”
McEntire’s mother passed away at the age of 93 in 2020, but for McEntire, it was an opportunity to give praise to the Lord.
“It’s just pretty cool that when you say, ‘My chains are gone, I’ve been set free because I gave my life to the Lord,’ and when you hear of somebody passing and you know that they’ve given their life to the Lord, it’s not a, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ It’s like, ‘Praise, Lord. I’m so thrilled for them that they get to be there. I hope I’ll see them someday.’ Well, I know I will because I’ve given my life to the Lord also.”
My Chains Are Gone: Hymns and Gospel Favorites Official CD Track List:
1. Jesus Loves Me
2. Oh, How I Love Jesus
3. When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder
4. Amazing Grace / My Chains Are Gone
5. I’ll Fly Away
6. Because He Lives
7. In The Garden / Wonderful Peace (Featuring The Isaacs)
8. How Great Thou Art
9. Softly & Tenderly (Featuring Kelly Clarkson & Trisha Yearwood)
10. I’d Rather Have Jesus
11. The Lord’s Prayer
12. Back To God (Acoustic Version) (Featuring Lauren Daigle)
McEntire hopes that this project touches the hearts of listeners in a special way.
“I want them to take away from that collection of songs, a sense of gratitude, thankfulness, and to take them back, when they first heard the songs like ‘I’ll Fly Away.’” she shared. “I remember being in the one room country church in Chockie, Oklahoma, there was a population of 21, no 18, when we were there and very small, one room. And where do these songs take you back to? What’s your memories of the first time that you heard them? And I hope that it really touches their heart. That way, I’ve done my job. When I hear a song and it touches my heart. I hope I sing it to where you hear me sing it, it touches your heart too.”
McEntire just wrapped up her REBA: LIVE IN CONCERT tour, which featured female newcomers including Caylee Hammack, Brandy Clark, Hannah Dasher, Reyna Roberts, Caitlyn Smith, Brittney Spencer and Tenille Townes.
“I was just in awe of how many people were so thrilled to be out and listening to live music,” McEntire shared. “I was so appreciative. So thankful. We were just tickled to pieces.”
The former Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year award winner hopes to resume her tour in the fall.
“We’d love to come back in the fall,” McEntire said optimistically. “I wasn’t finished. I would’ve loved to have done another month or two, but you never know when you’re booking them. And by the time we all said, ‘Oh gosh, we should have put some more on there on the books,’ everybody’s already filled the towns and the arenas. So we have to be patient.”
