Dolly Parton Came to Reba McEntire’s Rescue After 1991 Plane Crash That Killed Eight Band and Crew Members
In the early hours of March 16, 1991, tragedy struck the heart of country music. Eight members of Reba McEntire’s band and crew — along with two pilots — lost their lives when their chartered plane crashed into the side of a mountain near San Diego. For Reba, then at the height of her career, the devastation was both professional and deeply personal.
That night, after performing a show in San Diego, the team had been split across three planes bound for Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they were scheduled to perform the following evening. Reba, her then-husband Narvel Blackstock, and her stylist chose to stay overnight and fly the next day. Half the band and crew boarded one plane, the rest boarded another, while Reba’s own plane was scheduled last.
“The plane that crashed took off first,” Reba recalled in a recent interview. “The second plane took off three minutes later, not realizing what had happened. When the call came in the early morning hours, I was in shock. You don’t know how to regroup or get back on your feet, much less get back on stage.”
The loss left a void that felt impossible to fill. Fellow artists reached out immediately. Vince Gill phoned, offering to stand beside her on stage and play guitar until she felt ready to face audiences again. But perhaps the most extraordinary gesture came from her longtime friend and fellow country legend, Dolly Parton.
“Dolly called me and said, ‘You can take my band until you get your band together,’” Reba revealed. “She sent Billy Smith, her piano player, to help put a new band together for me. That’s just who she is — she steps up.”
Later that year, Reba poured her grief into the studio, recording For My Broken Heart, an album dedicated to the eight colleagues she had lost. The liner notes reflected her own fragile state: “If for any reason you can relate to the emotion packed inside these songs, I hope it’s a form of healing for all our broken hearts.”
Bass player Leland Sklar, who worked on the album, remembers asking her after several slow, emotional tracks if they’d be recording anything upbeat. Reba’s answer was simple: “Not this time.”
The Oklahoma native’s resilience is rooted in her upbringing. Raised on a working cattle ranch alongside three siblings, Reba learned early the value of discipline and hard work. “When Daddy told you to do something, you did it — right now. No talking back,” she said. Those lessons would later serve her well in an industry that demands stamina and professionalism.
The 1991 crash wasn’t the only hardship Reba would face. Her 2015 divorce from Narvel Blackstock, after 26 years of marriage, left her heartbroken once again. Yet, as before, she found a way forward — both personally and professionally. Today, she is happily in a relationship with CSI: Miami actor Rex Linn, a friend she had known since they worked together on The Gambler movie with Kenny Rogers in 1991.
Looking back, Reba credits friendship and community — especially the support from artists like Dolly Parton — for helping her survive the darkest chapter of her life. “It’s in those moments,” she said, “that you find out who’s really there for you.”
For fans, the image of two of country music’s most beloved voices — one in grief, the other extending a lifeline — is a reminder of the deep bonds that run through Nashville’s tight-knit community. And for Reba McEntire, the kindness of friends like Dolly Parton was more than generosity — it was the first step toward healing after an unthinkable loss.