The Family That Sings Together
As the Singing McEntires, the siblings performed at local bars, dance halls, local rodeos, and honky-tonks. The group even made a recording of the song titled ‘The Ballad of John McEntire’, which was named after their grandpa. They made about a thousand copies of the record! During their time together, The Singing McEntires made two huge hits: ‘If I Could Only Be With You’ and ‘God Never Cried’. Local radio stations around Oklahoma played the songs, but the siblings also performed the hits live.
A Lesson For A Lifetime
When Reba was with the Singing McEntires, she got a baptism. One night, the family was on the road to another gig when she informed her mother that she was planning to invite everyone in the dance hall to attend church on Sunday morning. What Jacqueline replied served as a lesson that Reba has never forgotten. She asked the young woman why she thought the same people did not go to church. It was then that, as Reba described in interviews, she learned a valuable and powerful lesson: “That was my first lesson on passing judgment. You don’t know what other people do. You don’t know their heart.”