Reba McEntire Knows the Importance of Keeping Her Career ‘Interesting’ at 71: ‘The Barking Dog Gets the Biscuit’

Reba McEntire spoke to ‘Billboard’ about celebrating 50 years of her career with a series of new capsule projects, including the recent ‘Tourist’ featuring the single “Ring Ring.”

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Reba McEntire is celebrating 50 years in music by releasing EPs pairing new songs with tracks from her catalog

Her latest single “Ring Ring” features a playful music video that McEntire says brought out her youthful side

Upcoming EPs include Tourist, featuring songs by Brandy Clark, one of McEntire’s favorite songwriters

Reba McEntire is celebrating both the past and the present with her latest series of releases.

The Queen of Country is marking 50 years of her career by releasing a series of EPs, each featuring a brand-new recording as well as songs from her catalog, throughout 2026. In a new interview with Billboard, McEntire spoke about how the capsule collections help to keep her career “interesting” at 71 years old.

“I thought it was totally genius, because the catalog business is booming right now,” said McEntire, who’s released three EPs so far this year: One Night in Tulsa, Hurt Like That, Ain’t Gonna Keep It Waitin’ and Ring Ring.

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“People are getting very nostalgic and they like the old songs they are familiar with. So, to pair a brand new song with past songs that are in the catalog, I told [manager Justin McIntosh], ‘This is one of the most creative, genius things I’ve seen done,’” added the “Fancy” singer.”

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McEntire’s having fun with the releases so far, especially making the music video for her recent single “Ring Ring,” which brings the song’s lyrics — about confronting a cheating partner and ending up in jail — to life.

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“I thought it was fun, and then I thought, ‘Well, it might be too silly. I’m 71 years old. Why am I singing songs like this?’ But the more I listened to it, the more I loved it,” she said of the track. “It brought out the kid in me.”

More EPs will come from McEntire throughout the year, including one called Tourist featuring songs written by Brandy Clark. “Every song I’ve recorded of Brandy’s, pretty much every song I’ve listened to that she sent to me, touches my heart,” said the Grammy winner. “She’s one of my favorite songwriters of all time.”

McEntire explained the EPs are a way to keep her career fresh after five decades in the music business. “The barking dog gets the biscuit, so you got to come up with something that’s interesting. You just got to keep recreating yourself,” she said.

Tourist comes out on Friday, Aug. 21.

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