Room to Breathe

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Reba McEntire's first album in four years finds the spunky redhead (and sitcom star) thinking like a singer again. Where she'd virtually burned out, doing too many albums a year, she's now thoughtful about her material, updating her repertoire with the hill-country radio hit, "I'm Gonna Take That Mountain," while also drawing on the kinds of meaty ballads that propelled her to diva-ness. If "Moving Oleta," a nursing home tale of love, is too squishy a topic for most folks, McEntire seems to be saying that it's high time we looked unflinchingly at a full range of relationships beyond the standard romantic fare. To that end, there's the woman-to-woman song, "My Sister," the pained adoption tale of "Secret," and the bittersweet "He Gets That From Me," a tribute to families who lost loved ones on 9/11. By the time McEntire mixes in some uptempo dance tunes, a gospel number, and a straight-country waltz, she's delivered an album that's a combination of all of the types of music she's recorded over the past 25 years. Thankfully she keeps her trademark vocal curlicues to a minimum, which allows guests Alison Krauss, Union Station vocalist/guitarist Dan Tyminski, and Vince Gill to sweeten the sound. But it's really all Reba, in a very classy return. --Alanna Nash