Reba McEntire dishes on love and tater tots in "Not That Fancy"

Note: Text has been edited and does not match audio exactly. This conversation is in collaboration with Amazon and was originally published as a part of Amazon's Fishbowl interview series.

Michelle Tigard Kammerer: Hello, everyone. I'm Michelle Tigard Kammerer, and I'm the head of country music at Amazon Music. I am absolutely thrilled to be here today and to welcome our incredible iconic guest, Reba McEntire.

Reba McEntire is a multimedia entertainment mogul. She has become a household name through a successful career that includes music, television, film, theater, retail, and hospitality. The Country Music Hall of Fame and Hollywood Bowl member has more than 50 award wins under her belt, earning honors from the ACM Awards, American Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, CMA Awards, Grammy Awards, and GMA Dove Awards. Reba was also a 2018 Kennedy Center Honors recipient. Reba has celebrated unprecedented music success, including 35 career number-one singles and more than 58 million albums sold worldwide. Reba has earned her 60th Top 10 on the Billboard country chart, extending her record for the most Top 10 hits among female artists.

Her new book, Not That Fancy: Simple Lessons on Living, Loving, Eating, and Dusting Off Your Boots, is available on Amazon and Audible now. I have so many questions for Reba, and I am so excited to get this conversation started. So, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the iconic, the incredible Reba McEntire.

[audience applause]

Reba McEntire: Good morning.

MTK: Good morning. Have a seat.

RM: Thank you, thank you, thank you.

MTK: Oh, Reba, we are so excited for you to be here.

RM: I'm excited to be here too. Thank you.

MTK: Your new book is out now.

RM: Yeah, how about that?

MTK: Congrats.

RM: It's a long time coming. We've been working on this for maybe two years, getting the idea and putting it all together. And we're really proud of it.

MTK: Oh, I have to tell you, I got the book, I read it cover to cover in one weekend, and it was like sitting down with a loving friend and just getting life advice and tips and tricks and recipes and stories and funny advice. How did you put this collection together?

RM: Well, it was [with] a lot of help. I had an outline to go by. They had other books that they had done before, and they showed me the one from Dolly and Reese Witherspoon. I loved it. My only beg, I guess, was, "Please have pictures with the recipes," because I like a recipe book with pictures. I need to know what it's gonna look like when I get finished. And other than that, [it] just was for them to tell me what to do. I answered questions and we found pictures and stories. And the more they asked, the more I remembered funny things to tell or emotional things, moving things. And we cover a lot in this book, as you have seen.

MTK: Yes.

RM: Funny, sad, emotional, informative.

MTK: It's so good.

RM: But it's a very well-rounded book.

MTK: Yes. And what I really loved when I opened it up is the foreword is by your friend Garth Brooks. I just want to read a little bit about what he said about you. He said, "Reba was everyone's girl if you were from Oklahoma. Hell, Reba was your girl if you were from anywhere at all. With the talent the likes of Patsy, Dolly, and Loretta, Reba also brought a business sense to entertainment. Not just female entertainment either. She brought a new business sense to entertainment, period. She showed all of us that you can be sincere about your music and move the chess pieces at the same time."

Now, you're an incredible businesswoman, and you talk a lot in the book about surrounding yourself with a good group of people. Can you tell us about building your perfect crew?

RM: Well, it's a lot of trial and error. You know, sometimes you get people that you get to work with that you don't have the same views and opinions. And then one day it's like, “Aaaah…” This person walks into your life, and you've got the same mindset and goals. And it works. And when everybody is working towards a common goal, it is magic. It's wonderful. It's so much fun. When you're butting heads, it's not fun. So, when you have a really good team you get to work with, it's the best, and it makes work not work.

"When you have a really good team you get to work with, it's the best, and it makes work not work."

MTK: Yeah, absolutely. Now, being a Reba fan my entire life, I was so tickled—

RM: Thank you.

MTK: Oh, my gosh. I mean, Reba, it's you [laughs]. So, I was so tickled to see never-before-seen photos and learn never-before-told stories. How did you pick the photos and stories that you share in the book?

RM: Well, it was kinda like I go through a bunch of pictures and say, "I don't think anybody's seen that one before." And if we're telling a story, get the picture that goes with the story. So that was very important too. I've got so many pictures in my phone, on my computer, in boxes in closets at the house. A lot that we've had scanned to put in computers, and some we still haven't. I've been a huge fan of taking pictures all my life, as long as I can remember back. Going to basketball camp when I was in ninth grade, I had one of those little rectangular cameras that were so cool.

MTK: With the flash on the top?

RM: Yeah, yeah. I love those. And it has advanced so much, but I still love to take pictures, and thank God, my phone's so easy. I don't have to take a big camera anymore.

MTK: For real.

RM: And I continue taking pictures.

MTK: I love it. Now, a lot of those pictures are of your family, and you talk about how important family is in your book, specifically your mother and what an amazing influence she had on your music and on your career. Can you tell us a story about your mama?

RM: Everything about Mama was always funny, interesting, a learning experience. Mama had more patience than I can imagine. When she got married, she was also a schoolteacher. She had her first child in her young 20s. And every two years, she had another child. And she didn't have a dishwasher. She didn't have a microwave. She didn't have a washing machine in the back room. She had it out in the yard, and it was a wringer washer. So, it was once a week she would do the laundry and pray for good weather because she had to hang everything out on the line. To have four kids and a husband that rodeoed and was gone from June to September. Pake was born in June, my older brother, and Daddy brought Mama and Pake home from the hospital and left for three months rodeoing.

MTK: Oh, my God.

RM: So, she didn't have a car. She'd give the postman, Bob Wheeler, she'd give him a message to give to Grandma that was two or three miles up the road that she either needed help with the kids or she needed a ride to town. But she was a tough woman.

MTK: I mean, God bless good mothers.

RM: You bet.

MTK: Goodness gracious. She sounds absolutely wonderful. Now, mothers love to cook. And in this book, you have over 50 recipes from friends, family, yourself, and even your restaurant, Reba's Place. So, I just want to know, of all of the 50 recipes right now, which one is your favorite?

RM: Oh, now that's not fair. I mean, because I love Mama's pineapple upside-down cake. I love Katie's brisket. I love Rex's smoked-chicken beer-can tacos. So good. All my friends, my family, I'd say, "Hey, can I use your recipe?" And they'd say, "Oh, yeah," and they'd get it right to me. Cookies, all kind of desserts. My daughter-in-law Marissa, her banana pudding recipe—

MTK: Oh, I saw that one.

RM: —which I absolutely love. Some of these things I have cooked myself. I'm not a great cook. I'm a kinda throw-it-together type person, where Rex will put brine in, and then he'll smoke it, and then he'll talk to it, and then he'll rub on it a while. And then he'll put it in the oven, and three days later we eat. And I'm like, "What's in the refrigerator that I can just throw together and eat something?" But it's great that we're different like that. If I'm hungry really quick and he is too, I fix. And if we've got a little time, he cooks. So, it works out great.

MTK: My favorite that I'm excited to try was Lucchese's pork tenderloin. That one looked amazing.

RM: It's good.

MTK: I'm super excited about it. Now, we've talked about all these recipes. But let's talk about you actually duping us on one of these recipes, because one recipe in here isn't a recipe at all.

RM: True.

MTK: It's listed as a recipe, but it's not. But it's very, very special to your story. Can you tell us about your love of tater tots and sugar tots?

RM: I will. Sugar tot and tater tot: We’re the tots. That's Rex and myself. I am tater tot. He's sugar tot. And we got the nickname because on our first date—we didn't know it was a date, but it was—this lady said, "I know you guys have already had dinner, but would you like to hear our appetizers, or our little snacks?" And I said, "Sure." And she said, "Well, we have tater tots." I said, "Yeah, I want some tater tots." And Rex said, "That's your nickname." And then later on, when, during the pandemic, I was in Oklahoma at Susie's house—and that's after Mama had passed, and we were cleaning out the house and separating everything—I was talking to Rex on the phone and Susie said, "What does he call you?" And I said, "Tater tot." She's, "Well, he should be sugar tot." So that's how we got our nicknames.

MTK: Oh, we love sugar tot. So, let's talk boots. One of my favorite parts of this book was your tip on picking out the best pair of boots. We're wearing our Reba boots.

RM: Yes, we are.

MTK: We are twins today.

RM: Woohoo, twinsies.

MTK: They say Reba on the sole.

RM: Mine's worn off probably by now.

MTK: Someone said earlier, "You'll always be able to see where I go in the snow because it'll say ‘Reba, Reba, Reba, Reba, Reba.’” So, I'm very excited about that.

RM: [Laughs]

MTK: But from boots to your iconic red dress, fashion has always been a huge part of your career. Tell us a little bit about that.

RM: And, you know, it's so funny, fashion being a huge part of my career, because clothes growing up was not even a thought. They were hand-me-downs. Our cousins in Texas would send boxes when they outgrew them. And Alice would get them. Well, she's four years older than I am, so nothing fit for a couple of years. But I wore them anyway. And I was in college before—other than Christmas and birthday, that was the first time I remember getting a new shirt, a new blouse. I bought it myself. And it was a treat. And I had roommates in college that I'll never forget, Mama and I having to go down to Nashville for me to cut a demonstration tape in '75. Well, I was already in college, and my roommate, Beth Crump, had a lotta clothes. And I was just fascinated by her clothes. And so when I went to Nashville, I asked Beth if I could borrow some clothes. And she said yeah, and we put one of those rods in the back seat of the car, and it was totally full. I took all her clothes, because I didn't know what I was gonna wear. And I thought, well, you know, might as well take more.

MTK: It's kind of what roommates do in college, right?

RM: Yeah, they do. And nothing's changed. Leslie and I pack up for a trip, and we take 16 times, way too much things. But we'll have it just in case. But fashion for me was whatever felt good. Stylists don't think like that. Stylists go, "Oh, this will be great." Even when we just did the Oscars year before last, they said, "All right, here's the corset, and here's this outfit you put on." I said, "Where's the dress?" "Over there. After you put all this other stuff on, then you can put on the dress." I said, "A corset? My grandmother wore a corset." "Oh yeah, nips it right here, and it's going to be so nice." And I put it on and I took it off. And I said, "Lemme try that dress without all this paraphernalia on." My gosh, it was uncomfortable. And I can't function if I'm not comfortable. If I'm comfortable, I'm more me. If I'm uncomfortable and wearing something that's not me, you're not gonna get Reba. You're gonna get a mad Reba, disgruntled Reba, and that's not fun.

"There's things you can read about in the book, and you can hear it in your voice, but when you hear it in our voices, it just brings it to life more."

MTK: Well, that's why I love your boots, because they are so comfy.

RM: Thank you.

MTK: So, one of the laugh-out-loud moments for me, I got so tickled because one of our mutual friends, Shane Tarleton, is in this book as the winner of your chili cook-off. You talk about all of the fun things you can do with friends, starting new traditions, your chili cook-off. What tips do you have for someone who'd like to start a new family tradition or start a chili cook-off?

RM: Get it going. It's the most fun. We were having a dinner at Jim and Marcie's, and Shane was there. Rex and I were there also. And we started talking about beans in chili or no beans in chili. And so one was, "Mine's the best." "No, mine's the best." Well, let's just have a chili cook-off. So that's the way it started. And this last time, I think we had 16 contestants. We absolutely love it. So, all it takes is a little competition and somebody saying, "Let's start this." And it's so much fun.

MTK: So, is it beans or no beans?

RM: Well, we had both.

MTK: But which one usually wins? Either one? Beans, no beans.

RM: No beans. Yeah, because Rex is the Great Pepper. He's the judge.

MTK: With the giant pepper hat.

RM: Yeah, it's in the book. Y'all have to get it, so you can see that picture if nothing else. If you're not gonna look at any other picture, look at Rex with his Great Pepper hat.

MTK: Now, you spend a lot of time in New York, with your time on Broadway and all of the concerts that you've done here. There was a section in here that's called “My Guide to the City that Never Sleeps.” And as a Nashvillian visiting New York, what are the two things I should do, or what's a thing I should do and what's a thing I should eat before I leave?

RM: Oh, my gosh. Wow. There's so many great restaurants here in New York City. I have my favorites. One I can't pronounce. If you know it in the book, Scallitelli-elli-elli?

MTK: Ooh. On it.

RM: How do you say it, Justin?

Justin: Scalinatella.

RM: I love that. Trattoria Dell'Arte is another one of my favorites.

MTK: I'm in.

RM: But you gotta eat. You gotta go see plays. So much entertainment here in New York City. But one of my favorite trips I've gotten to do in the past is come up on a Wednesday, see a matinee and a night play. Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday matinee, Saturday night.

MTK: I love that.

RM: And then Sunday, Sunday matinee and go home. It'll wear you out, but my gosh, it's fun. There's so many wonderful plays to go see.

MTK: I'm in, and I'm telling them that Reba told me to go. All right, now, as I am from Amazon Music, I would be remiss if we didn't mention your new album of the same name, Not That Fancy, that Dave Cobb, the Grammy Award-winning Dave Cobb, produced with you. And it's stripped-down versions of some of your most iconic records. But with so many iconic records, how did you pick which songs?

RM: Well, we asked the fans which ones they would like. And we did the Revised, Remixed, and Revisited album, and we asked them which ones they wanted. So there was a few off that. Those three albums we didn't put in there. And they were pretty adamant about one song, “Till You Love Me.” They really wanted that in. And so we just went from their advice, what they want. I mean, if it wasn't for the fans, we wouldn't be here, so let's put them in the mix and see what they want.

MTK: I love it. Now, of those 14 songs, there is one brand-new song. And we both got choked up backstage talking about it. It's called “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” Can you tell us about this special song?

RM: Matt and Olivia wrote this song called “Seven Minutes in Heaven.” And one of the first times I heard it was when we were at Mac and Lisa Davis's house having lunch. I said, "Matt, I've heard this. Can you play it again for me?" So he got his guitar out and sang it for all of us. And it really hit all of us. And when you're listening to a song and you get that kind of reaction from everybody, you know you've got a really special song.

And “Seven Minutes in Heaven” is about a person: "If I had seven minutes in heaven, I know just what I'd do. I'd go to heaven and I'd wait for you. I wouldn't ask questions about anything else. I just wanna see you." So, everybody has their own take on that song. It could be a grandmother, a friend, an animal, a baby. And people are doing TikToks now from the video of “Seven Minutes in Heaven” that I did and putting their version of it. And, oh, it'll rip your heart out. But that's the song. It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance to sing a song like that, where everybody can listen to it and they choose their way in their video to see it, and it touches their heart. That's why it's a special song.

MTK: It's so, so special. And Reba, you do that better than anyone.

RM: Oh, thanks.

MTK: Now, speaking of music, you are on The Voice as a coach. Tell us about how much fun you're having.

RM: I am. I'm having a blast. At first, I was like, "Oh, my God, what have I gotten myself into?" You know, they're already in their club. It was John Legend, Gwen Stefani, and Niall Horan. So, I thought, "Man, they're all together. I'm just the new kid on the block. And I don't know what they're doing." And I've been a mega mentor, I've been a mentor since the very beginning with Blake. And to kinda take his place and jump in—I know the show. I know the rules. But they have new categories. You gotta steal, you gotta save. And we're shooting two seasons at once, so it was very complicated and hard to keep all the contestants straight. But thank God, I have a lotta help, a lotta people, a lotta visuals, you know, to “This person is this season, and this person is this season.”

But it was so much fun, mainly because of the talent. I can't believe how many talented people there are in this world, just walk up and sing in like a six-octave range. And people that are a little, they've got their little quirkiness that makes them stand out, and they still got this huge, magnificent voice. Some are tender. Some are big. And it's just so special and interesting. I can't wait for the next person to come out.

MTK: Oh, I love that, and we love watching you on it. Now, this book is not only available in print, but it's available as an audio version. How fun was it narrating the audiobook?

RM: It was fun. We had a really good time. Did it in a couple of days. Rex came in and gave his scariest movies that he's ever seen, and that was interesting. Marcie came in and read her part, my buddy from East Tennessee. And Alice and Pake and Susie are in the audiobook also, talking about the book and our growing-up years. I enjoyed doing it because there's things you can read about in the book, and you can hear it in your voice, but when you hear it in our voices, it just brings it to life more.

MTK: Yeah. So, when people hear the audio version, what are you most excited that they hear?

RM: The heart. The heart of the story.

MTK: Yeah, you get that from an audio version, for sure. Now, at Amazon, we have what we call leadership principles. And they are guidelines that help us do business internally and externally. And one of my favorite leadership principles is called “learn and be curious.” And I loved that in this book, it is woven throughout this entire book. In fact, I'm going to read my favorite quote that you wrote from this book: "The flip side of fear isn't fearlessness, it's curiosity. There is no magic switch to make you unafraid, but curiosity has a way of pushing us past our fears to say yes to the things that could be good for us." How has continuing to learn and be curious affected your life and your career?

RM: I do everything out of curiosity. That's a good thing. Curiosity runs past fear. It runs past insecurity. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Just like when I was doing Annie Get Your Gun in 2001, an interviewer said, "You never done a play before?" I said, "No." “Aren't you scared to death to get on that stage, never have done a..." I said, "Whoa, never thought about that before." I just wanted to be Annie Oakley. I wanted to be in New York, be on that stage, which I had seen Bernadette Peters do a magnificent job the year before I got to take the stage. And that's all I wanted to do. I've always been a huge fan of Annie Oakley. Ever since I was a little bitty kid, I would watch her TV show, black and white, before I ever started to school. I would meet Alice and Pake down at the cattle guard and tell them what happened on the Annie Oakley show that day. So, to get to be Annie Oakley for six months on Broadway was the best.

"I do everything out of curiosity. That's a good thing. Curiosity runs past fear. It runs past insecurity. Ignorance is bliss sometimes."

It was the hardest work I'd ever done in my life. Working cattle, anything on the ranch, because it was consecutive, eight shows a week. Kind of like Groundhog Day, and you're like, "Wait a minute. Did I already say that line? Did I already sing that song?" But it was so much fun. And the ensemble, I absolutely loved it. But that's what curiosity will do for you. You just gotta go around all those negative things. You just do it because you want to and you're curious.

MTK: Oh, I love that. I love that. So, to end our chat, I'd like to take another thing from the book. You have a game in here called Around My Table. When Reba does dinner parties, she basically asks one question, and everyone goes around the table so that they can get to know each other. So, I'd like to do a couple rounds if you don't mind.

RM: Sure, sure.

MTK: All right, Reba, what is your favorite place on earth and why?

RM: The back porch of our place in Tennessee. Our backyard of our place in LA. About anywhere with Rex is my favorite place.

MTK: Aww.

RM: We have a good time together. We met in '91 doing the Gambler movie. And we stayed friends. And then 2020, we were both doing Young Sheldon, and he said, "Oh, I see you're coming out. Let's go have dinner." And didn't get to that night. Went back the next week, and that was our first date when he gave me the name tater tot. And then the pandemic hit. And so from January to June, we didn't see each other. But we had a bond over texting, telephone calls, Zooming, an intimate bond before we really ever kissed. So it was very special. We got to know each other better, and he's still putting up with me.

MTK: I love it. Favorite dessert: cookies, cake, or pie?

RM: [Long pause]

MTK: This is your question, Reba [laughs].

RM: I know it is. Because I love all of them. If I could say cobbler, that would be my favorite. I love cookies. So, I'm gonna say cookies.

MTK: Okay. Also in the book, for that question, you added a tip to remember that and then give the person who said that whatever that dessert is on their birthday, which I thought was awesome. All right, when is the last time you laughed until you cried?

RM: Rex was telling a story the other night. We had friends, Butch and Angie, out from Austin, Texas, at the house in LA. And Rex got to telling a story, and he was laughing so hard, he was crying. Well, the story was great, but to watch him laugh. And he can't talk when he laughs so hard. And he was crying, and we were all crying more at him laughing than the story. But it did help, all of it. I mean, a good laugh is the best thing in the world.

MTK: It really is.

RM: It just makes your lungs fill up with air, and tear ducts work, and jaw muscles are all tensed up. It's just fun.

MTK: Oh, I love it. Mine was with my best friend this last weekend. Same thing happened. Same thing. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

RM: Oh, Emma Stone from The Help.

MTK: Ooh, yes.

RM: When I was watching that movie, I said, "She is cute as a button." That red hair, and she's feisty. And then... who would play me? Emma Stone.

MTK: I love that. I would like to have Reba McEntire play me.

RM: Oh, thank you.

MTK: Because she's also cute and feisty. So how about that?

RM: I'd love it.

MTK: Well, y'all, we're at the end.

RM: Really?

MTK: Yeah, it was so fun, right?

RM: That flew by.

MTK: I know. Thank you to everyone who joined us today. Reba's book, Not That Fancy, is available now on Amazon and Audible. Thank you so much for being here, Reba. This was a blast.

RM: Thank you. I loved visiting with you.

MTK: Right back at you. And thank you to everyone who's been here, we had so much fun. I hope ya'll have a great day. Bye!