[captioning made possible by kcet public television] >> good evening from l.a. first, a conversation with reba mcentire. she is out with a new cd, "keep on loving you" and also one of the best-selling fiction authors, dean koontz, who is out with three new books including a menoir, "a big little life". >> there are so many things wal-

mart is looking for to doing, like helping people live better. but we are looking forward to helping people build better communities and relationships. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to promote financial literacy and the power that comes with it. >> an by contra purist -- contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> welcome reba mcentire to the program. she had the most to 10 hits by a

female artist in the history of the country music charts. the new cd is "keep on loving you" and here is the sing,e "strange -- single, "strange." ♪ i cried myself to sleep, thinking i can't get over him strange, talk about love strange, i aught to be -- ought to be in bed with my head in the pillow crying strange ♪ tavis: he broke my heart, i cried myself to sleep trying to get over him. there really are only three subjects. >> maybe four. tavis: maybe four? he broke my heart, she broke my

heart. >> then they break up and make up and are happy. tavis: i am glad to have you here. number 33. >> 33rd album. tavis: do you love this? >> i love recording and performing live. i love to get back with music. tavis: what is your process for writing and recording? >> i don't write a lot, but ten months before i let the songwriters know when i'll be recording and here are the demo tapes and cds and people listen at valerie and starstruck and we find what we can. at one time i had 200 songs on hold. many other people are looking,

and it isn't right to hold on to all. i had 20 or 15 and i had two producers, tony brown and mark bright. we went to the studios and laid down the tracks. tavis: i want to ask about your process. -- process. every author has a way to do this. some people do their own stuff. there is a greater balance and you said clearly, you record other people's stuff. >> i want the best song. i will listen and if i like it, i will ask my husband, and he will say, who wrote it.

i don't want to be swayed. i have 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 it out. that is as far as i could get, the two lines. the first line was, her husband left on saturday for a woamn half her age -- woman half her age. tavis: that is the third one. >> i knew there was a fourth one. i said can you do something with this. she got with tommy lee james,

started writing, and we made some changes and i recorded it. tavis: what did turning 50 do for you? >> personally, it was like, wow. i ahve hit that mark -- have hit that mark where i feel blessed and i celebrated. tavis: you weren't scared? >> i had three birthday parties, in l.a. and oklahoma and nashville, and i celebrated for those who wouldn't make it. >> is it different in l.a.? >> you get the river band to play for you. [laughter] tavis: you bring the country- western to l.a.

i was saying before we came on the air, i love good country music. to my ear, and those four categories, an artist will give you the impression not that they grew up on an 8000 acre ranch. you don't give that image. i don't think your upbringing was typical when we think country-western. >> i did grow up on a working cattle ranch and mother and daddy and suzy and myself, four kids. we were the hired hands and got room and board. but we had a great time. daddy was a rodeo cowboy and won the world championship, 57, 58,

61. we would rodeo and three of us rodeoed, alice was the runner up, and i rodeoed for about 10 years. tavis: were you good? >> no. tavis: why 10 years? >> it was fun. you could travel and hang out with your buddies. daddy would say, why do you want to do something you can'aren't d at. he wanted me to sing. it came together in 1974 when i sang at the national finals rodeo. a friend took me to nashville and then i had a polygram contract.

tavis: this is like people who have never been to a nascar race. as one who's done it, what is the thrill? >> this is dangerous and exciting. i had a timed event. you are running full blast and making three turns, and starting and stopping in a dark alleyway. it is exciting and i didn't win much and didn't make money. thank god i could sing. tavis: you mentioned your big break. before that, i am sure you know, before you went back and sang, when did you know that you were gifted? >> the way i knew is because when -- i was the third child. i wasn't the oldest or

youngest or the boy, i was the third kid. so you did stupid things to get attention. singing got me attention. i knew it was special. tavis: what do you make then, these 33 albums later, of being the biggest female country western star ever? >> i kind of like it. [laughter] who wouldn't? good lord. we have been here a long time. we have worked real hard and traveled all over the world. tavis: what does your father make of your success? >> he doesn't tell us much, he just says, you did pretty good.

that kind of thing. he is low key. momma was the cheerleader. she never said we had to be the best, just to do our best. tavis: that is a critical distinction. i like that. you have been fortunate in that you are able to move beyond country music. without anything else, you'd be okay. broadwya anay and television, yu have done many things. >> when we started with "annie, get your gun," i said, i like to travel. when they asked me to do this, i said we can't. we were going to europe and we flew from nashville to new

york. and they canceled the flight. we had a day off and i said, let's see a play. he said, let's go see "annie get your gun" and by intermission i said, i have to be there. we cleared it for a year and started in january. it was one of the most wonderful experiences. > tavis: and you got rave reviews. >> how do you beat bernadette peters? but how i act, i am a country girl. it fit like a glove. tavis: i don't want to put words in your mouth. we would say that is divine intervention. does that happen?

>> i said, i don't know what's next. who tells you? divine intervention happens a lot with us. i tavis: you know hwer name. reba mcentire with her 33rd album, "keep on loving you" and thank you for coming on. next is dean koontz. stay with us. ♪ bustrange ♪ tavis: there are bestselling authors and then there is dean koontz. his books have sold 400 million

copies in 38 languages. there are a few works out including a work of non fiction, including "a big little life." i know you don't do this much. you are always coherent. let me ask you this question, i am not a dog owner. i may get this better. waht is it about -- what is it about dogs that make for such good subject matter. every week, you look and there are 16 books listed, 3 or 4 about dogs. >> when you think about this, is

there any other species that would risk its life to save a human being. dogs do this and frequently do this. there is something special about the bond. there is also the thing, i hate to admit this but what i lost my dog it was harder than losing my parents or a sibling or a friend. no matter how much we love them, it is a human relationship. it is imperfect. but with a dog, it is perfect. they never say anything mean to you. that is the ideal relationship and is a glorious, wonderful thing. tavis: this is politically incorrect but let me say this. in the michael vick saga, nobody

including him condones what he did. but there was a conversation about the cultural divide between white and black americans, i will not speak for all black people. it is hard to imagine talking to an african american who could say that he or she understands how losing a dog could compare. is there a cultural disconnect? >> i am not saying it doesn't compare. those are terrible losses. as terrible as this is, it is the same if you are connected to the dog. there is something so special that i say, this dog changed me as a person. tavis: trixie.

>> i felt that this dog, i thought this dog is what i would call a manifestation of god in my life. look at this animal's joy and wonder. i was losing my own wonder. she restored it to me. she changed the book i wrote and brought me back to a faith i was drifting from. there can be that kind of thing between a dog and a person. when the supernatural enters the natural world, itit is through a mundane thing like a dog. this dog was so miraculous and i was meant to learn from her. tavis: i accept that, that is very coherent.ho

how did trixie come into your life? >> we wanted a dog but i was too busy, too busy. we worked with canine companions, providing service dogs for people with severe disabilities. the person cannot live on their own, with the dog they can because they have 89 commands. we worked with them and they said, we will give you a release dog because it coudln'ldn't finh the training. if we don't do this we will be 90 and we took the dog. it was the right time and dog. >tavis: i want to go back to your wife. you have been together how many

years? >> 43 in october. tavis: early on you were teaching school. your wife said to you, after a few short stories, she said you should write full-time and we should arrange, for five years, i will support us. and in that five years, you have the capacity to be a great writer. something happened in that five year period. speaking of love, that story got me. tav>> how she saw it was possibe -- i was not a writer like i am now. iwas not a good person to do

the 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 years before she could help run the business side. tavis: but you had enough success for her to quit her job. >> we said, if we can be sure each year we can make $25,000, that would be huge success. we never imagiend anything -- imagined this would happen. >> i have a sense of this, it is a long way from $25,000 a year. this book is fascinating. trixie is an integral part of

the book, but i was fascinated by your father. >> i didn't know when i was a kid, i knew he was strange and troubled. he was an alcoholic and he held 44 jobs in 34 years. we had an outhouse until i was 12, and we never knew if we had a roof over our heads. my mother was ill most of the time. he ran our lives, and he was threatening to kill us, the two of us and himself. it was a difficult childhood. i was happy as a kid. you can be happy or not and you make 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 was such a good salesman. he could have done well. he would punch out the boss, a bad career move. tavis: not very good. >> later in life he was diagnosed as bororrline schizophrenic, complicated by alcoholism and then there was sociopathic and it explained my childhood. i sometimes say the odd part of this is my dad made our lives so difficult, i always said, the one thing i have to know is i will never be like my father. he gave me the drive. i didn't want to be what he was.

i kept away from alcohol and in many ways, without that i might not be where i am now. >> it is a blessing. i recieve that. enduring all of that, it is easy to see what your father was. another thing, to have come through that well adjusted. >> well, talk to my wife. tavis: maybe you are not so well-adjusted. >> i never talked about it that much. i talked about it briefly and it surprised me how much mail i got for people who had not gone through anything that bad. the question was, how do you get over that?

i am struggling with my own problems. if you believe somebody is looking over you it makes a big difference. and then, in a blunt way, i said, i always thought if i didn't go on to success in my life, some success, and if i didn't get over all of this, then he won. that is what he wanted, for me to be unhappy. i said, don't let him win. people never thought of it that way. tavis: i am out of time now, but i want to say, i will ask a question you can see on pbs.org/tavissmiley. you will get the answer. i am curious, about the power of

books. you say that b bks were a way of escape for you, and the power in books.let me thank dean koontz. his new book is a memoir of a joyful dog, "a big little life" and there is the author and trixie. that is it, you can see me on the weekends at pri and you can see me here on pbs. thank you for watching and as always, keep the faith. >> for mroe information -- more information visit tavis at pbs s.org. >> join me with a conversation wtih john cryer on -- with john

cryer on john hughes. >> there are so many things that wal-mart is looking to help people do, like living better and building strong communities and relationships. with your help, greater things are to come. >> nationwide insurance it supports t-- support tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide, working to promote financial literacy. >> and contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> we are pbs.