Reba Says ‘Bad Gigs’ Were a Great Lesson

Reba McEntire has scored an astonishing 74 Top 20 singles, and headlined some of the highest-grossing tours in history, but she can still vividly recall the early days of her career, when she was playing to a handful of people in less-than-desirable venues -- including one where the stage was the back-end of a vehicle.

"A bad gig will always teach you something," the iconic entertainer tells the UK's Metro. "I played to 70 people on the back of a flatbed truck in Appaloosa, La., many years ago. We had to do two shows. The people who saw the first show came back for the second, so I told them to laugh at the jokes as if it was the first time. It all turned out fine. We had fun."

With the holidays fast approaching, the Oklahoma native says she prefers gifts that can't be found in a store. "The ones that mean the most are the presents the kids made for me," says the mom and step-mom to a total of four children. "One year, my husband [and manager Narvel Blackstock] donated money in my name to a shelter for homeless teenagers. That meant a lot."

The superstar admits she once tried to give her spouse an extravagant gift, but quickly learned her lesson. "I bought my husband a Lamborghini for our wedding anniversary but we sold it," she recalls. "I was scared to death he'd have an accident."

Looking ahead to 2012, there's one thing Reba hopes to finally cross off her to-do list. "[I want] to learn to speak Spanish," she reveals. "I've made the same resolution four years running and I've never done it. Maybe 2012 will be the year."

Last year, the 56-year-old admitted that by the middle of January she had already fallen behind on her resolution, adding that she chose household chores over studying. But now, with her All The Women I Am tour concluded for the year, she'll have several weeks to study before heading overseas in February and March for a series of shows in England, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany. See her concert schedule here.