Talking with Reba McEntire, you hear the Oklahoma drawl and her honesty. When she tells you she is so proud of Keep On Loving You, her first album in six years, you know it's true. And when you listen to the album, there's not a doubt in your mind that Reba personally chose each and every song and that she could give you a reason why.

One of the things you'll find on the album is a song she co-wrote titled "She's Turning 50 Today." She's singing to the women of Middle America who loved her in her 20s, 30s and 40s -- women who will never become fickle. They still have Reba's picture on their wall, even if it is a black-and-white photo like the one by my computer with Reba and Brooks & Dunn with producers Tony Brown and Tim DuBois. We don't change. We don't even change pictures.

Some people say she's had Botox or a facelift. Maybe so, but if she has, I can't tell. Her hair's still red, her eyes still blue and she never tried to enlarge what lips God gave her. She's still Reba. Early on, her hair got bigger and curlier, but when the style changed, Reba went with it. I hated it at first, but now I like her hair almost as much as her music and the woman she is.

The lady who grew up as a barrel rider at rodeos and worked like a field hand on her daddy's ranch can pretty much call her career shots these days -- and she definitely does call her life shots. She's happy with her son, Shelby, and is still in love with her handsome husband, Narvel Blackstock, who also is her manager. The two of them look ahead and plan for tomorrow.

Thinking ahead drew Reba to the Valory Music Co. It's a new label headed by Scott Borchetta, who worked with her at MCA Records and helped her earn more than a dozen No. 1 singles during his tenure there. Reba loves Scott's enthusiasm and that of his great team, making it feel like it's a family reunion. Plus Sandi Spika-Borchetta, who is married to Scott, worked as a clothes, hair and makeup stylist for Reba until the singer left for New York to star in the Broadway production of Annie Get Your Gun.

Reba was once known for her lavish concert productions, but she says she will no longer work herself to death by changing clothes 15 times during a concert. "Four times is plenty," she allows, and I agree. Besides the recording and performing, she has the Reba Collection of clothes, shoes and household items at Dillard's.

With 55 million album sold, she's outdone all the females in country music, but she's still looking for new mountains to climb.