For My Broken Heart (CD - 1991)

Personnel: Reba McEntire (vocals); Michael Thompson (electric guitar); Steve Gibson (acoustic & electric guitar); Steve Fishell, John Hughey (steel guitars); Matt Rollings (keyboards); John Barlow Jarvis (keyboards); Mark O'Connor (mandolin, fiddle); Steve Fishell, John Hughey (steel guitars); Leland Sklar (bass); Larrie London (drums); Vince Gill, Harry Stinson, Linda Davis, Vicki Hampton, Yvonne Hodges, Bob Bailey, Kim Fleming (background vocals).

Personnel: Steve Gibson (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Michael Thompson (electric guitar); John Hugh, Steve Fishell, John Hughey (steel guitar); Mark O'Connor (mandolin, fiddle); John Barlow Jarvis, Matt Rollings, John Jarvis (keyboards); Larrie Londin (drums); Harry Stinson, Linda Davis, Vicki Hampton, Vince Gill, Kim Fleming, Bob Bailey, Yvonne Hodges (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: John Guess.

Recording information: Emerald Studio.

Only the quietly moving "If I Had Only Known" might be considered a tribute to the members of McEntire's band who died in a 1990 plane crash, but the tragedy creeps into McEntire's voice and her song selection. Throughout the album, McEntire dwells on regrets, unvoiced feelings, and missed chances. The best songs aren't the hits "For My Broken Heart" and "Is There Life out There" but a group of evocative story-songs which unfold slowly, leaving loose threads and developing complex emotional undercurrents. For My Broken Heart may be the strongest album of McEntire's career; it's certainly her most heartbreaking. ~ Brian Mansfield

In 1990, a plane crash took the lives of several members of Reba McEntire's backing band. McEntire, who was not on the plane, was devastated by the tragedy, and 1991's FOR MY BROKEN HEART is an album-length elegy for her friends and partners. Although only the final track, "If I Had Only Known," directly addresses the accident, a sense of heartbreak and loss permeates the entire album. Songs like the tender ballad "For My Broken Heart" and "Bobby" (her only co-writing credit on the entire album) feature some of McEntire's most heartfelt and emotional singing. In this context, even the cover of "The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia," although easily the lightest song on the album, doesn't sound nearly as campy as it otherwise might. In a career filled with hit singles, FOR MY BROKEN HEART might be Reba McEntire's most personal album-length statement. minimize