Reba McEntire would never travel to Dallas-Fort Worth and not play “Fancy.” That’s a promise.
When she visits Irving on Sept. 15 for the A Night to Remember charity event benefiting CitySquare — her first performance in North Texas since a sold-out concert in November 2017 — expect “Fancy.”
Funny thing is, McEntire points out, “it wasn’t even a No. 1 record.” And that’s saying something, because McEntire has released 13 No. 1 records and 35 No. 1 singles.
“That’s the song I have to sing every night,” McEntire says, “or the audience is like, whoa whoa whoa, you ain’t through yet, girl.”
McEntire is the latest famous face to headline A Night to Remember, an eventThe Dallas Morning News sponsors and the largest CitySquare event of the year.
In the past, the bash has featured Jennifer Hudson, Steve Martin, Aretha Franklin, Jay Leno and more.
CitySquare’s Vice President of Development Jill Williams hopes that the event will send about $1 million back into the nonprofit, which helps low-income Texans get food, medical help, housing and job training.
Most of CitySquare’s work happens within a 5-mile radius of downtown Dallas, and it serves about 40,000 people in need, Williams says.
“What’s so great about A Night To Remember is we want our friends and supporters to come and not feel like they’re at a fundraiser,” Williams says. “We want them to just come and enjoy a night on the town.”
McEntire might feel at home when she visits D-FW, as her ex-inlaws are from the Burleson area and her boyfriend lives in Pottsboro, near Sherman, at the Texas-Oklahoma border. She still keeps in touch with former Burleson resident Kelly Clarkson, whose husband Brandon Blackstock is McEntire’s former stepson. (She says of Clarkson: “I love her to pieces and she’s a lot of fun to hang with. She’s very smart, a good businesswoman. I just think the world of her.”)
Instead of stopping into the “great restaurants in Dallas and in Fort Worth” after her concert, it’s back to Nashville for a busy McEntire, who starts recording her newest album in September. How many albums has she released again?
“I have no earthly idea,” she says. “Oh my gosh, I know I’ve got 38 or 39, close to 40.” (A spokesperson says it’s technically 36.)
Then she muses, in a way that feels truly genuine, on what it’s like to be Reba. “I’m very honored to have been able to record that many albums and do this as long as I’ve gotten to do it,” she says.
And later: “I love what I’m doing. … I love every bit about the entertainment business.”
