Reba McEntire - My Kind Of Country (1984)

After eight lackluster years on Mercury, Reba McEntire signed with MCA in the early 1980s and good things soon started happening. With this spirited retro country-honky-tonk-Western swing album, she boldly laid claim to her Oklahoma musical heritage. She also placed herself at the forefront of the "new traditionalist" movement that was starting to gather steam in Nashville at the time. Many of the songs on My Kind of Country are thrilling steel- and fiddle-adorned remakes of oldies by Ray Price, Carl Smith, Faron Young, and Connie Smith. The immense critical acclaim that My Kind of Country garnered quickly catapulted McEntire through the ranks of the also-rans and finally made her a viable contender for stardom. --Bob Allen