Songful Style Link Party #45: “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” by Reba McIntyre

My musically inspired friends and I are back after our holiday break with our next round of songfully styled outfits.

About Songful Style

Songful Style is a style challenge series hosted by Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, Marsha of Marsha in the Middle, and Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette.

Each month we will share a song with the lyrics and video and we invite you to use whatever aspect of the song that inspires you to create an outfit. 

It is similar to Style Imitating Art where we use artwork to inspire our outfit creations. Except Songful Style gives you lyrics, music, video, and album artwork to inspire your fashion creativity. You may even find inspiration in a memory triggered by the selected song. It is all open to your own personal interpretation and just a fun way to discover new music and get a little bit more creative with your wardrobe.

Anyone is welcome to join us on a permanent basis or you can just play along without any obligation to do anything other than feel inspired. We are flexible and fun and just want to find more ways to play dress up because it’s what we enjoy doing! 

We will be posting on the last Monday of each month and will announce our song choice for the following month at the end of each post. You are welcome to style your own song inspired outfit and add it to the link party or link anything that you want to share even if it has nothing to do with the song.

It was my turn to choose this month’s inspiration song. I picked “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” by the Queen of Country, Reba McEntire. This song is to honor my father who passed away 31 years ago on January 22, 1995. I first heard this song about a year after he died and the lyric “The man I thought could never die / Has been dead almost a year” still makes me cry to this day. Every. Single. Time. I. Hear. It. Grab a tissue or two and give it a listen.

The Video

The Lyrics

The greatest man I never knew
Lived just down the hall
And every day we said, "Hello"
But never touched at all
He was in his paper
I was in my room
How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?

The greatest man I never knew
Came home late every night
He never had too much to say
Too much was on his mind
I never really knew him
Oh, and now it seems so sad
Everything he gave to us, took all he had

Then the days turned into years
And the memories to black and white
He grew cold like an old winter wind
Blowing across my life

The greatest words I never heard
I guess I'll never hear
The man I thought could never die
Has been dead almost a year

Oh, he was good at business
But there was business left to do
He never said he loved me
Guess he thought I knew

About the Artist

Reba Nell McEntire, otherwise known as the Queen of Country, is an American singer and actress who was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, on March 28, 1955, the third of four children to Clark and Jacqueline McEntire. With a father and grandfather who were world champion steer ropers and a mother who was an aspiring country singer turned public-school teacher, librarian, and secretary, it is no surprise that Reba turned out to be a super force in country music and a beloved icon to millions of fans.

Reba was raised on a cattle ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma, where she was responsible for ranch chores including deworming and castrating bulls. Her affectionate mother stood in stark contrast to the coldness of her father who never told his children he loved them. Inspired by their mother’s passion for singing, the McEntire children developed an early interest in music, learning how to harmonize on long car rides to rodeo events.

Reba began performing in first grade, singing “Away in a Manger” in an elementary school Christmas pageant. She then won first place in the 4-H Club Junior Act Division for her performance of “My Sweet Little Alice Blue Gown”. Reba was a well-rounded student, playing basketball and running track, learning piano and guitar, and training for barrel racing. By the time she was in high school, Reba and her siblings performed frequently as the Singing McEntires, releasing a 1971 single, “The Ballad of John McEntire”, about their famous grandfather.

The sibling group was later re-named the Kiowa High School Cowboy Band. They played gigs at bars and dance halls in Oklahoma City until Reba’s brother graduated from high school. Upon her graduation from Kiowa High School in 1973, Reba attended Southeastern Oklahoma State University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a minor in music while still helping at her family’s cattle ranch.

Reba was discovered by country artist Red Steagall after she performed “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City in 1974. Her mother requested Steagall’s help in getting a recording contract for all of her children. Steagall responded with, “I can’t take all three. But I could take Reba. She’s got something a little different.”

In March 1975, Reba and her mother made the journey to Nashville, Tennessee, so she could record a demo tape for Steagall. She continued making excuses to not pursue a career in music until her mother changed her mind by saying, “Now, Reba, let me tell you something. If you don’t want to go to Nashville, we don’t have to do this. But I’m living all my dreams through you.” Her demo tape was heard by Glenn Keener of PolyGram/Mercury Records and 20 year old Reba signed her first country music recording contract in November 1975.

With over 50 years in the industry, Reba has earned many awards and nominations including 6 American Country Awards nominations; 48 Academy of Country Music Awards nominations which garnered 14 regular ACM Awards and 5 ACM Special Achievement Awards; 14 American Music Awards including 11 wins for “Favorite Country Female Artist”; 3 Billboard Music Awards; 2 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards from 3 nominations; 2 British Country Music Awards; 1 Canadian Country Music Awards nomination; 10 CMT Music Awards nominations; 7 Country Music Association Awards from 51 nominations; 1 French Country Music Award; 1 Golden Globe nomination for her self-titled television series; 17 Grammy nominations with 3 wins; 1 Kennedy Center Honors award; 9 People’s Choice Awards from 13 nominations; 1 Saturn Award nomination; 6 TNN/Music City Awards; and 2 TNN Viewer’s Choice Awards. She has been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was selected as Billboard Magazine‘s Woman of the Year in 2007.

Being a superstar of this level, Reba’s personal life has been public for many years. She married steer wrestling champion Charlie Battles in 1976, divorcing in 1987. The couple had no children together but Reba was step-mother to Battles’ two sons. After their divorce, Reba moved to Nashville to pursue her music career and soon married her manager Narvel Blackstock in 1989, gaining three step-children. On February 13, 1990, Reba gave birth to a son, Shelby Steven McEntire Blackstock, who is a successful American race car driver.

After 26 years of marriage, Reba and Narvel divorced on October 28, 2015, but remain close friends to this day. From 2017 until 2019, Reba was in a committed relationship with photographer Anthony “Skeeter” Lasuzzo. In 2020, she began dating actor Rex Linn. The couple were engaged in December 2024.

About the Song

“The Greatest Man I Never Knew” was written by Richard Leigh and Layng Martine Jr. and has been described as being about Leigh’s father. It was recorded by Reba McEntire for her critically acclaimed 1991 album For My Broken Heart. Although it was her seventeenth studio album, it was the first album recorded by Reba after a plane crash killed eight members of her touring band in 1991. She recorded For My Broken Heart as “a form of healing for all our broken hearts” and each song was chosen with that purpose in mind.

The single for “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” was released in July 1992, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in October. It peaked at number 1 on the Canada Country Tracks, landing at number 22 on the 1992 year end chart and number 70 on Billboard‘s US Country Songs year end chart.

About My Outfit (and My Father)

Because the song doesn’t really offer any sartorial inspiration lyrically, I decided to create an outfit that was inspired by my father. My love for western styles comes directly from my dad. I was born and raised in eastern Pennsylvania and have only ever lived in the Pennsylvania/New Jersey/New York tri-state area, not a region known for western influences. My passion for cowgirl boots and all things with a western boho flair began when I was a very young child. My father served a short time stationed in Texas with the U.S. Army and he later described Texas as his favorite place in the country. That is where my love began.

My father also loved gambling, making nearby Atlantic City, New Jersey, another favorite place of his. My older sisters took trips to the casinos with my father to celebrate their 21st birthdays but that didn’t interest me as my 21st birthday approached. Instead, I had requested a pair of authentic handmade cowgirl boots from Texas. Unfortunately, my father passed away 5 months before I turned 21.

Fast forward five years and I found myself in Houston, Texas, for work. I was young and single with a decent income so I took advantage of this opportunity to seek out one of the best boot makers in the state, Maida’s, and ordered myself custom made cowgirl boots. They are crafted from black buffalo skin and feature my initials MM on the side of each boot. What a super fun and interesting process it was having my feet measured and sketched and discussing every detail of the construction with Mr. Maida. I wore those boots all the time until I had children and my feet grew a size and half longer and wider. Now I can no longer get my foot past the instep. But they were customized to my feet and have my initials on them so I can’t really pass them onto someone else to enjoy. Instead, I have turned them into home decor that acts as a lovely reminder of the final gift I gave myself from my father.

Back to my outfit. I wanted it to have all the Texas vibes that this New York girl could muster and my new Howdy cardigan that I bought myself for Christmas was the perfect statement piece to use as my starting point. Plus it is light blue which was my father’s favorite color. I layered some of my favorite basics underneath the sweater including a white tunic length tee shirt, rust colored leggings (close to the color of Reba’s dress in the video above), and a tan long lace vest.

I have multiple pairs of boots that coordinated with this combination but I chose my brown floral cowgirl boots for this outfit because I haven’t worn them in a while. Finally I accessorized with my long floral scarf and boho jewelry in shades of brown, rust, and orange, topping my head with my orange Panama hat that is the same color as Miss Reba’s hair! I also included my wire wrapped moon necklace because my absolute favorite lyric from the inspiration song is “He was in his paper \ I was in my room \ How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?” I love that lyric so much that I once had aspirations of a memorial tattoo featuring a moon with the words, “How was I to know he thought I hung the moon?“.

This outfit came together so easily for me and it not only warms my soul but it also warms my body!

I took these photos a few weeks ago when we had some days of unseasonable warmth that melted most of the snow. And then we had a bunch of snow come our way as it usually does in winter. Now the ground is once again blanketed in white and the snow banks are taller than me.

Whenever I take photos in the cemetery, I like to look for tombstones with relevant names to my outfit theme. I searched for names like McEntire, Leigh, and Martine but had no luck. I also looked for monuments that said Father. I found only one but it was too small for photographs. I knew I would never find anything relevant to my father’s name, Ralph Montoro. After some walking and searching, we had given up and were making our way out of the cemetery when we spotted this stone with the name Card and the image of a big truck. It made me laugh out loud because my father loved playing cards (I mentioned above that he was a gambling man) and he was a truck driver! It is these little moments of serendipity that let me know my dad is with me always.

I hope you will check out how my songfully stylish friends have interpreted this song into an outfit. Just click the links to their blogs below for more fashion inspiration. 

• Marsha of Marsha in the Middle
• Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette

Featured Favorite from Songful Style Link Party #44: “Harvest Moon” by Neil Young

If you enjoyed our musically inspired outfits for this round, please come back on February 23, 2026, to see how we style Suzy’s next song choice, “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas. These style challenges are such a great way to learn new music or revisit old songs while also viewing your wardrobe from a totally different perspective. If you are feeling in the mood for some good old fashioned dress up fun, won’t you join us for a round of Songful Style! 

Happy styling in the new year! 

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee