Terri Clark has been a fan of Reba McEntire for a long, long time. The Canadian singer recently got to open for McEntire, on her Reba: Live in Concert Arena Tour, where she not surprisingly became even more impressed by the Country Music Hall of Fame member.
“She is everything you think she would be. She’s the most genuine, real for somebody who’s such an icon,” Clark boasts on Apple Music Country’s Trailblazers Radio with Fancy Hagood, adding that she esteems McEntire in much the same way as she does icons like Dolly Parton and Barbra Streisand.
“Her horses are running in that corral now,” Clark says. “And she is still the girl from Oklahoma in so many ways that is a genuine biggest heart. She is giving. She’s kind. She’s thoughtful. She listens. She’s not one of those people that just talk and waits for a chance to speak when somebody else is talking. She really listens. That says a lot about a person. She’s been a friend and a mentor to me for many, many years. And I just think she’s going to be one of these people that’s a lifelong friend more than anything for the rest of my life.”
Clark was fortunate enough to get a front-row view to how McEntire conducts herself, on and off stage, while touring together.
“I really value her opinions, her friendship, her kindness,” Clark shares. “And her taking me on that tour got me back in front of ten to 15,000 people a night, that a lot of them had either forgotten or just you’re out of sight, out of mind. Even though I’m still out working 50 to 100 dates a year for the last 30 years, I’ve never let up. I’ve put out nine albums since I was recording for a major label here.
“But not everybody continues paying close attention when you’re not in the Top 10 radio anymore, and you’re out working harder than you ever have because you almost have to work harder to reach people,” she adds. “So her putting me on that tour was a tremendous gift and a tremendous opportunity.”
The Grand Ole Opry member left her native Montreal for Nashville in 1987, as soon as she graduated from high school, with dreams of a career in country music. Although she ultimately earned a record deal it was several years after her mother drove her to Music City, the Canadian says her early years were anything but promising.
“I was renting a room from somebody in their condo, and so I went down and played the 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM shift three days a week,” Clark remembers. “[I] took the city bus because I didn’t have a car, couldn’t get a car, didn’t have a Social Security number, couldn’t get a license. And my mom went back home, drove 2,400 miles to get back to Canada, and there I was by myself waiting on a bus to go to Tootsies Orchid Lounge and play … That was the beginning of my years in Nashville, and it was eight years before I even got noticed enough to get a record deal. I got turned down by a few, but that one in 1994, I got signed.”
Find all of Clarks’ music and upcoming shows at TerriClark.com.
