Reba McEntire's 50-Year Anniversary EP Series: Monthly Themes, Catalog Pairings and a New Song Each Time
Reba McEntire has been releasing a themed EP every month since April 2025, marking 50 years since she first put out music. Each instalment in the series pairs one new song with four tracks pulled from her catalogue, all built around a central concept. The EPs are digital-only releases. (Billboard)
The themes are specific. "One Night in Tulsa" revolved around McEntire's home state of Oklahoma, pairing its title track with catalog songs including the 2007 Ronnie Dunn collaboration "Does The Wind Still Blow in Oklahoma." "Ring Ring" gathered songs with a telephone storyline, setting its title track alongside older material such as 1994's "Why Haven't I Heard From You." The August 2025 EP, "Tourist," features songs written by songwriter Brandy Clark. Previous entries in the series also include "Hurt Like That" and "Ain't Gonna Keep It Waitin'." (Billboard)
McEntire credited her manager Justin McIntosh and her label home MCA, part of Universal Music Group, with spearheading the series. (Billboard)
The EP project is one strand of a busy 2026 calendar. McEntire is scheduled to appear at Nashville's Star-Spangled Bash on June 15, 2026, an event announced by ABC, the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, and ITV America Nashville. (Reba.com) Season 3 of her NBC sitcom "Happy's Place" premieres Friday, October 23, 2026. (Good Housekeeping) She has also commemorated the 25th anniversary of her last Broadway performance by releasing two never-before-heard songs from that run. (RebaMcEntire.com)
The structure of the EP series — one fresh track reframed by four older ones — lets McEntire revisit decades of recording history without packaging a conventional retrospective. A listener who knows only the new song gets a curated path back into the vault; a long-time fan gets a new recording placed alongside familiar material. Either way, the format keeps the focus on the songs rather than on ceremony.
