Brooks & Dunn, McEntire shows continue in '17

My Chains Are Gone

It's so good to hear Reba McEntire's gospel album so soon after Carrie Underwood released the similar "My Savior." While Underwood's release may have been her country-ist album – ever, perhaps – McEntire has strayed far less often from her traditional music roots. With "My Chains Are Gone," McEntire gives us a selection of songs she – like Underwood – grew up singing. Therefore, she knows them all like the back of her hand, the way ...

Stronger Than the Truth

The beauty of Reba McEntire's albums flows from her way with a phrase, knowing when to modulate to carry us deeper into sadness or joy and when to pull back when she wants us to listen quietly to the lessons of a tear falling. Her songs can also urge us to scamper across the dance floor to twin fiddles, celebrating the exhilarating freedom of the moment or the satisfaction of breakup from a messy relationship. This album follows the end of McEntire's marriage to her manager. ...

Reboot

Brooks and Dunn return with the duo's first studio album in a dozen years. Sort of. That's because they revisit a dozen of their hits (leaving a bunch behind) with contemporary country singers. "Reboot" is a cross between a tribute album and a redo, and overwhelmingly, the idea works. The general idea is that the guest artist will trade lines with Brooks or Dunn. One could surmise that Brooks & Dunn did this kind of album to introduce these chestnuts in an attempt to ...