Reba Fights The Gimmick

Like the 55 year old George Strait, 52 year old Reba McEntire has managed to get airplay and chart results in a Country radio market that rarely embraces anyone older than 50. For me, McEntire has been a singles artist, even though I've got a soft spot for Whoever's In New England, and fans tell me that her mid-80's albums are worth checking out. But from the 90's onward she became a singles artist. So her many comps are worth picking up. Now, doing what most Pop artist's are, she's dropped a Duets album. If there are 3 things every artist will eventually do it's these: an album of covers, a duets one and a greatest hits with a couple of new songs. So, the suits at MCA have found a clever marketing ploy to keep McEntire on the charts and to garner her bigger publicity than a new solo album would. Duets is actually pretty good. The best tracks being with Kelly Clarkson, Kenny Chesney, Ronnie Dunn, LeAnn Rimes and Justin Timberlake. Yeah, you read the last one right. Although, Justin is more a background vocalist than co-singer. McEntire sounds good throughout, often better than her counterparts. Okay, it's too bad that older singer's have to rely on marketing gimmicks to get media attention for their latest releases. But when the results are satisfying (and Duets is) one shouldn't complain.