[captioning madeossible by kcet plic television] >> good evening from l. first, aonversation with reba mcentire. she is oith a new cd, "keep onoving you" and alsoone of the bt-selling fiction authors, dean koontz, who is out with three new books includi a menoir, "a b little life >> there a so my thin wal-

mart is looking for to doing, like helping pple live better. but we are looking forwd to helpg people bui better communities and relationship >> nationwide insurace proly supportsavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to promote fincial leracy and the powe that comes with it. >> an by contra purist -- contributions to yourbs station from viersike you. thank you. >> welcome reba mntire to the pgram. she hadhe most t 10 hits by a

female artist in the history of the cntry music charts. t new c is "keep on loving you" and he is the sing,e trange -- single, "strange." ♪ i ied myself to sleep, thiing i can't get over him strange, lk about love range, i aug to be -- ought to be in bed with my head in the pillow cryg trange ♪ tavis: he broke my heart, i cried myself to sleep trying to getver him. there really are only three subject >> maybe four. tavis: maybe four?

brok my heart, she bke my heart. >> then they breakup and make up andre happ tavis: i am gl to have you here. number 33. >> 33rd album. tavis: do you love this? >> i love recording d performing live. love to get back with music. tavi wt is your process for writing and recorng? >> i don't wte a lot, but ten months before i let the songwriters kn wn i'll b recording and here are the dem tapes and cds and people listen at varie and starstck and we find what we c. at one time had 200 sos on hold. manyother people are looking,

and it isn't right to hold on to all. i had 20 o 15 and i had two producers,ony brownnd mark bright. we went tohetudios and laid down the tracks. tavis: i wa to a about your process. -- process. every author has a way to do this. some people do their ow stuff. there is a greater balce and you sd clearly,ou record othereople's stuff. >> i want the best song. i will lien and if i like , i will askmy husband,nd he

will say, who wrote it. i n't wa to be swayed. iave my favorite song writers. i want the best what is a good r you? >> one that touches my heart and gives me chills. if i can be touched, hopefully you will. tavis: tell me about what you wrote. this was, she's turning 50. i started i out. at is as far as i could get, the two lines. the first line was, her husbd left on saturday f a amn half her age-- woman half her ag tavis: that is the third one. >> i knew there was a frth one. i said can you do something wi this. she g with tommy lee james,

started writing and we me som cnges and i recorded it. tavis: what did turning 50 do for you? personally, it s like, w. i ahve hit that ma -- have hit at mark where i feel blessed and i celebrated. tavis: you weren't scared? >> had three birthday paies, in l.a. and oklahoma and naville, and ielebrated for thoseho woul't ma it. >> is it different in.a.? you get the riv band to pl for you. [laughter] tas: you brin the country- stern to l.a.

i was saying before we came on the air, i love good country music to my ear, and tho four catories, an artist will give you the impssion not that they grew up on an 8000 ae ranch. you don't give that image. i don't think your upbringing was typical when we tink country-wesrn. >> i did gow up on a wking cattle ranchnd moth and daddy and suzy and myself,four kids. we we theired hands andgot room and board. but we had agreat time. daddy was a roo cowboy and w the world championship, 57, 58,

61 we would rodeo and three o us rodeoed, alice was the runner , and iodeoed forbout years. tavis: were you good? >> no. tavis:hy 10 years? >> it was fun. you could travel and hang out with your budes. daddy would say, why doou wan to do sething you ca'aren't good . he wanted me to sing. it came togethern 1974 whe i sang at the national final rodeo. a friend took me to nashville nd then i had a polygram

ontract. tavis: thiss like people who ve never bn to nascar race. as one who's done it, wh is the thrill? >> thisis daerous and exciting. i had a time event. you are running full blast a making three tus, andtarting and stopping in a dark alleyway. its exciting and i didn't win much and didn't ma money. thank god could sing. tavis: you mentioned your big break. before tha i am se you know, before youent ba a sang, when did you know that you were gifted? >> the way i knew is because when -- i washe third child.

i wasn't the oldest or yogest or the boy, i was the third kid. you did stupid things to get attentio singing got attention. knew it was special. tavis: at do you make then, these 33 albums lar, of being the biggest fema count westn star ever? >> i kd of like it. [laughter] who wouldn't? good lord. we have been here longtime. we hve worked real hard and traled all over the world. tavis: what does your father make of your success? >> h esn't tell usmuch, he

just says,ou didretty good. that kind of thing. he is low key. momma was the cheerlear. she never sd we had to be the best just to our be. tavis: that is aritical distinction. i like that. you have been fortunate i that you areble to move beyond country musi wiout anything else, yo'd be okay. broadwya anay aelevision, you havedone many things. en westarted with "annie, get your gun," i said, i like to travel when theasked me to do this, i said we can't. we were going to europe and we flew from nashville to new

york. andhey caeled the flig. we had a day off and i said, let's see play. he said, t's go see "annie get your gun" andy intermission said, ihave to be there we cleared it for a year an staed in january. it was one of the most wonderful experiences. > tavis: and you gotaveeviews. >> h do you beat bernadette peters? b how i act, i am a country girl. it fit like alove. tavis: i don' want t put words in your mouth. we would say that is divine

intervention. ds that happen? >> iaid, i don't kn wat's next. who tells you? divine intervention happens a lot with us i tavis: you kow hwer me. reba mcentire with her rd album, eep on loving you" and thank you for coming on. next is de koontz. stay withs. ♪strange ♪ tavis: there are bestselling authors and then there is dean

koontz. his books have sold 400 milon copies in 38 lanages. there are a w works out including a work of non fiction, including "a big little life." i know you don't do this mh. you are always coherent. let me ask youthis questn, i am t a dog owner. i may get tis better. wahtis it about -- what i it about dogs that make for such good subject matter. everyeek, you look and there are 16 books listed, 3 or 4 about dogs. >> when you hink about this, is

there any other specs that would risk i life to save a human being. dogs do is and frequently do this. there is something special about the bond. there islso thehing, ihate to admit this buthat i lost my dog it was harde an losing my parents or a sibli or a frnd. no matter howmuch we love them, it is a huma relationship. it is imperfect. but with a dog, i is perfect they never say anything mean to you that is the ide relationship and is a glorious, wonderful thing. tavi this ispolitically incorrectut let meay this.

in th michaelick saga, nody cluding him condones wha he did. but there was a conversation about the cultural divide betwe whitend black americs, i wil not speakor allblack people. itis hard t imagine talking to an african ericanho could say that he or shenderstands howlosing a dog couldompare. isthere a culturalisconnect? >> i am not sayi itoesn't compare hose are rrible loss. as terrible as this is, it i the same if yo are connected to he dog. there is something so special that i say, this doghanged me

as a person. tavis: trixie. >> i felt that this dg, i thoughthis dog is what i would call manifestation of god in my life. look at this animal'sjoy and wonder. i was losingy own wonder. she restored to me. she changed the book i wrote and broug me back to a fth i was drifting from. therean be that kind of thing betwe a dog and a person. when the supertural enrsthe naural world, tit is through a mundan thing like a dog. thi dog was so miculous and i was meant to learn from her. tavis i accept that,hat is ryoherent.ho

how did trixie come into your life? >> we wanted dog but ias too busy, to busy. we worked withcanine companions, providing servic dogs for people with severe disabilies. the person cannot live on their own, with the dog they can because they have 89 commands. we worked with them andhey said, will gi you a release dog because it coudln'ldn'tinish thetraining. if we don' dohis we will be 90 and we toohe dog. it was the right ti and dog. >tavis: i want to go back to

yourife. y have be together how many ars? >> 43 in ocber. tavis: early o youere teaching sool. your wifeaid to you, aftea fe short stories, she said y should write fu-timeand we should arrange, for five years, iill support us. and in that five years, you have the capacityto be a great writer. something happened in that five year period. speaking ofove, tha story got me. tav>> how she saw it wasossible -- ias not a wter like i am w. was not a good person to do

th same for her. it was amazing i say i tried to bargain her to seven years. she was swifter than i was. it took about five yea before he could help run t bsiness side. tavis but you h enough scess for her to quit her job. >> we said, if we can be sure each year we can make $25,000, that woulde huge success. we nevermagiend anything -- imaned tis woul happen. >> i have sense ofhis, it is a long way fom $25,000 a year. this book is fascating. trixie i an integral part o

the book, but was fascinated by your father. >> i didn't know wen i was a kid, i knew he w strange and troubled. he was an alcoholic and he held 44 jobs in 34 yes. we had an outhouse unl i was 12, a we never knewf we had a roof over our heads. my mher was ill mt of the time. he ran our lives and he was threatening to kill ,he two of us an himse. it was a difficult childhood. i was happy as d. you can be happ or not and you mak what you've got. my happiness came out of books, or just the attitude.

my dad, i am writing about him now. he had a strange side, inventing things. he wasuch a good salesman. he couldave done well. he would pun out the boss, a bad career move. tavi not very good ler in life h was diagnosed as borderline schophrenic, complicated by alcolism and then there s sociopathic and it explained my childho. i sometimes say t odd part of this is myad made our live so difficult, i always said,he one ing i have to know is i will never be like my father. gavee the drive.

i didn't want to behat he was. i kept away from alcoh and in many ways, without that i might not be where i am now. >> it is a bessing. i recieve that. enduring all of that, it is easy to see what your father was. another thing, to he co through that well adjusted. >> well, talk to my wife tavis: maybe you areot so well-adjusted. >> iever talked abo it that much. i talk about it briefly and it urprised m how much mail i got for people who had not gone through anythinghat bad. the question was, how you get

over that? i amtruggling with my own prlems. you believe somebody is lookingver y it makes a big ifference. and ten, in a blunt wa i said, i alway thoughtf i didn't go on t successin my life,ome success, and if didn't get over a of this, then he wo thats what he wand, for me to be unhappy i sd, don't let h win. peple nev thought of it that way. tavis: i am out of time now, but i nt to say, i will ask a question you can see on pbs.org/tavissmiy. you will get theanswer.

i am curious, about the powerf books. you say that books wer away of escape fou, and the pwer in oks.let methank dean ontz. his new book is a memoir of a joyful dog, "a big little life" and there i the author and trixie. that is it, you can see me on the wkends at pri and you can s me heren pbs. thank you for watching and as always, keep t faith. >> for mroe inrmation -- more informatio visit tav at pbs s.org. >> join me with a cversation wtih john cry on -- withohn

cryeron john hughes. >> there are soany things that wal-mart is looking to help peple livg living better and ilding strong communities and relationships. with your help, greater things are toome. >> nationwidinsurance it supports t-- support tavis smiley. tavis and natiwide, working to promote finanal literacy. >> and contributions to your p staton from viewers likeou. thank you. >> we are pbs.