Keep on Loving You

by Reba McEntire

Overview

Keep on Loving You is contemporary country legend Reba McEntire's debut recording on the semi-independent Valory Music Company label's Starstruck imprint. It's her first new studio outing since her comeback effort, Duets, and her mammoth triple-disc hits package that fulfilled her contract to MCA Nashville, her label home for nearly 20 years. Despite its release on an indie, the production and approach are anything but, with the album being produced by Tony Brown and Mark Bright. The cream of country music's current chart crop wrote its 13 songs; it is certainly a radio-friendly collection that is supposed to showcase McEntire's adaptability and that she's still "got it," and can still score in the contemporary marketplace. There's no doubt that will happen, from the title track, a midtempo ballad that is saturated in compressed guitars and Hammond B-3, big repetitive choruses, and a chorus of fiddles and backing vocals. McEntire's voice hasn't lost even a touch of its range and power; she's a belter who can hang with the best of them. The set opener (and its first single), "Strange," with its acoustic guitars, mandolin, and fiddle intros, is like something from the backyard until about 20 seconds in, when a wall of guitars à la John Rich arrives and her vocal spits out lyrics that tell of a woman who feels strange that she should be wrecked after a love affair, but she's fine. It feels more like Gretchen Wilson than Reba McEntire. "I Want a Cowboy" and "Pink Guitar" sound more like McEntire is being backed by the Charlie Daniels Band circa 1979 than her own touring unit. "She's Turning 50 Today" is a trademark McEntire-delivered ballad about a woman who has been abandoned by her husband and decides to leave the wreckage of her life behind. It's the kind of bittersweet power ballad that the singer is famous for, and is delivered with characteristic aplomb even as the production behind her tries its hardest to get in the way. The bottom line here is that Keep on Loving You may jar some longtime Reba fans on first listen, but despite the record's sound it's all her in this mix, and they will more than likely celebrate this. As far as the new fans this set clearly hopes to gain, it's got the right elements; if country music's finicky youth-obsessed radio and video machine can hear this set for what it is, listeners will connect in droves.

Product Details

Release Date:	08/18/2009
Label:	Valory
UPC:	0843930002344
catalogNumber:	3000234
Rank:	39817

Tracks

1. Strange
2. Just When I Thought I'd Stopped Loving You
3. I Keep on Lovin' You
4. I Want a Cowboy
5. Consider Me Gone
6. But Why
7. Pink Guitar
8. She's Turning 50 Today
9. Eight Crazy Hours (In the Story of Love)
10. Nothing to Lose
11. Over You
12. Maggie Creek Road
13. I'll Have What She's Having
14. Strange
15. Consider Me Gone

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Reba McEntire   Primary Artist
Ashley Cleveland   Background Vocals
Matt Rollings   Piano,Hammond Organ,Hammond B3
Judson Spence   Background Vocals
Eddie Bayers   Drums
Shannon Forrest   Drums
Paul Franklin   Dobro,Steel Guitar
Kenny Greenberg   Electric Guitar
Charles Judge   Strings,Keyboards
Wayne Kirkpatrick   Background Vocals
Brent Mason   Electric Guitar
Gordon Mote   Piano
Steve Nathan   Piano,Keyboards,Hammond Organ,Hammond B3
Jimmie Lee Sloas   Acoustic Guitar,Bass
Brian Sutton   Acoustic Guitar,Banjo
Glenn Worf   Bass
Aubrey Haynie   Fiddle,Mandolin
Kim Keyes   Background Vocals
Jason Sellers   Background Vocals
Wes Hightower   Background Vocals
Perry Coleman   Background Vocals
Ilya Toshinsky   Acoustic Guitar,Banjo
Katrina Elam   Background Vocals
Tom Bukavac   Electric Guitar
Jennifer Wrinkle   Background Vocals
Mike Johnson   Dobro,Steel Guitar

Technical Credits

Reba McEntire   Composer,Producer
Derek Bason   Engineer
Tony Brown   Producer
Steve Diamond   Composer
Wayne Kirkpatrick   Composer
Steve Marcantonio   Engineer
Darrell Scott   Composer
Jimmie Lee Sloas   Composer
Mark Bright   Producer
Tommy Lee James   Composer
Neil Thrasher   Composer
Kim Fox   Composer
Wendell Mobley   Composer
James Slater   Composer
Mark Nesler   Composer
Rivers Rutherford   Composer
Leslie Satcher   Composer
Jason Sellers   Composer
Shaye Smith   Composer
Michael Dulaney   Composer
Georgia Middleman   Composer
Jamie O'Neal   Composer
Todd Tidwell   Engineer
Katrina Elam   Composer
Liz Hengber   Composer
Trey Fanjoy   Director
Ed Hill   Composer
Whitney Sutton   Copy Coordination
Jimmy Melton   Composer
Marv Green   Composer