Reba McEntire photo by Marc Baptiste, courtesy of UMG Nashville.
Dec. 1, 2008 — Reba McEntire spent a good part of her youth on the rodeo circuit, where her father competed and she got experience in barrel racing.
Thus it’s not surprising that she spurred Ronnie Dunn to write the current Brooks & Dunn hit "Cowgirls Don’t Cry." But she wasn’t the lone inspiration for the song, which Reba sang with Ronnie and Kix Brooks on last month’s Country Music Association Awards.
"Ronnie and Terry McBride wrote the song, and they said they had their daughters and me in mind when they wrote it," Reba relates. "All three of us are redheaded cowgirls. I grew up a cowgirl, so it really speaks to me. Ronnie and Kix are my really good friends, and I never turn down a chance to sing with them or hang out with them. They always make me laugh. Ronnie played me the song right after he had written it. I was blown away, and that’s been a year ago. Ronnie called and said he had an idea about me singing the last verse. I was honored and thrilled that he asked, so we went in and recorded it."
"Cowgirls Don’t Cry" was already on its way up the chart in its original version, but with Reba now added to the single, it’s climbed to No. 17.
Reba’s first collaboration with Brooks & Dunn came 10 years ago with "If You See Him/If You See Her," featured on her three-CD compilation 50 Greatest Hits. Other collaborations in the collection include "The Heart Won’t Lie," with Vince Gill; "Does He Love You," with Linda Davis; and "Because Of You," with Kelly Clarkson.