See Reba McEntire’s Impassioned ‘Back to God’ on ‘Today’
Reba McEntire pulled double duty on this morning’s Today Show, serving as co-host and performing the song “Back to God” from her new gospel album Sing It Now. The recently released 2-disc collection combines classic hymns on one disc with more contemporary offerings on the other.
Combining Randy Houser and Dallas Davidson’s impassioned, pleading song with McEntire’s expert-level interpretive skills, “Back to God” makes quite the showstopper in a live setting. McEntire alternates between a hushed, vulnerable vocal style and a soaring cry, heightening the song’s emotional heft with the power of her voice. McEntire also performed “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot / Swing Down Chariot” and “God and My Girlfriends” during her appearance.
Released on Friday, February 3rd, Sing It Now is McEntire’s first-ever gospel release, and she ended up with two discs almost by accident. It turned out to be a good problem: when she had finished recording her first batch of songs, her label boss couldn’t figure out which ones to cut. “I said, ‘So what are we gonna do?’ He said, ‘Well, lets do a double CD, one of the hymns and one of the more current songs,'” she recalls. “I said, ‘Alright!'”
McEntire will also appear on Late Night with Seth Meyers as well as the View this week, before performing her first-ever solo show at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium next week.