Reba Gives Moving Speech Upon Receiving Western Heritage Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award

Reba McEntire Honored With Western Heritage Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award

Reba McEntire recently received the Western Heritage Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award and gave a moving speech at the ceremony.

The country music legend and Voice coach grew up on a cattle ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. She came from a long line of “cowboys,” as her grandfather, John Wesley McEntire, was a world-champion steer roper in 1934. Her father, Clark, claimed the same title three times…in 1957, 1958, and 1961. He was inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

The McEntire children would get up in the morning before school to do chores on the ranch. Reba once shared how her mama just focused on getting them “dressed and out the door” for school after they finished their chores, and didn’t worry about getting them all gussied up.

As she grew older, Reba also competed in the rodeo world, particularly in barrel racing. On top of that, she delivered her life-changing performance of the National Anthem at the National Finals Rodeo in 1974. Country artist Red Steagall was in attendance and was so impressed with Reba’s performance that he helped her get a record contract.

50 years later, Reba performed the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. She wore her father’s belt buckle and her mother’s bracelet.

Reba Gives Moving Speech About Cowboys & The Western Way Of Life

Needless to say, Reba knows a few things about the Western way of life. She made that even clearer when she delivered her speech upon receiving the Western Heritage Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Reba said:

“I never could figure out why the Western way was so romantic to me. Because when we get up at 4 in the morning [to] go gather cattle and whey, and ship them out, and then go to school by 8:15, I couldn’t figure out where was the romantic part of this? This is a lot of hard work. But I love to watch the old Western movies, because the cowboys always protected and defended the underdog. That’s what I loved about it. And that’s what cowboys and cowgirls do. That’s what we do in our way of life. We stand up for the underdog, and there’s so many. All of y’all do that, because if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be here in this room tonight. Because that’s what this cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, the Western way of life, is all about. Pulling for your neighbor, reaching out, helping them stand back up when they get knocked down. That was the romantic part about it.”

She also wrote in the video’s caption:

“I was honored to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award this past weekend at the Western Heritage Awards. I always want to be the cowgirl that stands up for the underdog, and that’s what this award means to me.”

Watch Reba’s speech at the Western Heritage Awards ceremony below. Congratulations to her for being this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award!