Reba McEntire Walks the CMA Red Carpet as a New Grandmother — Photos

Reba McEntire turned heads in emerald velvet before slipping into a dazzling white stage look in Nashville — but another set of photos marked the bigger occasion.

The country legend stepped out for a star-studded Dolly Parton celebration on October 21, 2026, joining some of music's biggest names before taking the stage herself.

At the same time, McEntire's family was celebrating the arrival of a baby boy whose first photos would soon have fans talking.

Reba Turns Heads in Emerald Velvet

McEntire attended "CMA Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton" at The Fisher Center for the Performing Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 21.

The 71-year-old singer stood out on the red carpet in an emerald green velvet blazer, which she teamed with a brown top, fitted black pants, dark cowboy boots, and a large silver statement necklace.

Her signature red hair framed her face as she smiled for photographers against the event's black-and-gold backdrop. McEntire also joined a sprawling group portrait featuring some of the biggest names at the celebration.

Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry, Brad Paisley, Vince Gill, Darius Rucker, Lainey Wilson, Kelsea Ballerini, Amy Grant, Kristin Chenoweth, Ricky Skaggs, and Carly Pearce were among those pictured.

Charles Kelley, Dave Haywood, Ashley McBryde, Hillary Scott, Jimi Westbrook, Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman, Ella Langley, Molly Tuttle, Phillip Sweet, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Béla Fleck, Sierra Hull, and Lukas Nelson also appeared in the photograph.

And McEntire's green ensemble did not escape the attention of fans. "Reba you have never looked better!!!! Wowza!!! Beautiful!!" one person gushed beneath a Facebook post. Another declared, "Love your jacket Reba beautiful always."

Not everybody was sold on the outfit. "Of all the clothes she has she picked that?" one person asked in the comments on an Instagram post. But another fan was convinced the striking shade was made for McEntire.

"Emerald is her color. I first saw Reva [sic] in concert in 1995. Won't ever forget that performance," the person wrote. "She looks fabulous as always," another added. The velvet look, however, was only the beginning of McEntire's fashion display that night.

Reba Swaps Velvet for Dramatic White Fringe

When it was time to perform, McEntire ditched the blazer, pants, and boots for an entirely different look. She took the stage in a floor-length white ensemble covered in glittering Western-style embellishments, complete with dramatic strands of silver fringe cascading from the sleeves.

The fringe stretched toward the floor as McEntire held out her arms at the microphone. Behind her, a colorful mountain landscape and floral display filled the stage as she performed during the CMA celebration honoring Parton.

But while McEntire was commanding attention in Nashville, another milestone was unfolding in her family. Her only biological son, Shelby Blackstock, and his wife, Marissa Blackstock, had welcomed their first child. And the baby's full name revealed a direct connection to his famous grandmother.

Meet Reba's Grandson Archie

Marissa introduced the newborn through a series of Instagram Stories, revealing that she and Shelby had named their son Shelby Archer McEntire Blackstock. They call him "Archie."

One intimate hospital photo showed Marissa smiling from bed while cradling her newborn. "Meet Shelby Archer McEntire Blackstock 'Archie,'" the text across the image read.

A second image showed Shelby lying back with his son resting against his bare chest. The new dad smiled at the camera while Archie, wearing a striped cap and wrapped in a colorful printed blanket, slept against him.

"Shelby Archer McEntire Blackstock" appeared across the top of the image. But another photo offered a very different glimpse of Archie's first days. The newborn was pictured beneath blue lighting wearing protective eyewear and a breathing mask.

Marissa disclosed that their son's first week had been difficult. "He had a rough first week, but at least he had the look down. 😎," she wrote. Then came a family image carrying a message that put the arrival into perspective.

"After everything it took to get here, we finally get to call ourselves Mom and Dad 💛 We've been taking these first few weeks just for us, and there's nowhere else we'd rather be," Marissa wrote.

Kacey Musgraves' "Golden Hour" accompanied the post. The words carried particular weight given what Marissa had publicly shared about the couple's years-long attempt to become parents.

The Couple Spent Years Trying for a Baby

In November 2023, Marissa revealed that she and Shelby had already been trying to start a family for more than a year. She said they were under the care of an OBGYN in Nashville and had gone through their first treatment cycle without getting the news they wanted.

Marissa also disclosed that an MRI prompted by prolactinemia-related concerns and an HSG test had come back clear. Rather than keeping their fertility struggle private, she explained that she wanted to speak about an experience she believed was too often met with silence.

The couple continued trying. Then, in early December 2025, Marissa disclosed a pregnancy loss in an emotional Instagram update. She had already lost her brother-in-law and her father that year before losing the baby.

Marissa said she had seen two pink lines on a pregnancy test on Thanksgiving morning — one day after her father died. It was the first positive test she had seen in three years of trying, she said.

The pregnancy did not continue, but Marissa made clear that she was not giving up on their hope of having a child. By January 2026, she and Shelby were beginning her second round of IVF treatments.

"The love, messages, prayers, and support from friends and this community have been overwhelming in the best way," Marissa wrote. She added, "Infertility is hard, but we don't feel alone. ✨"

Just three months later, the couple had the announcement they had been waiting to make.

Their Disney Announcement Revealed a Baby Boy

Shelby and Marissa announced on April 14 that they were expecting a son in October. "Oh, BOY," Marissa began the post. The announcement came with a distinctly Disney theme.

The couple posed in front of Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, while showing off sonogram images and a tiny white onesie. The onesie featured a sleeping Mickey Mouse alongside the words "Blackstock, October 2026."

A "Baby Blackstock 2026" sign, Mickey Mouse ears, and a blue-and-white cake featuring the familiar "Oh boy!" phrase completed the display.

In one photo, Shelby wrapped his arms around Marissa as the couple smiled for the camera. Another showed them kissing while holding their sonogram images. The location carried its own significance. Shelby and Marissa married at Walt Disney World on February 12, 2022.

They had initially met through Tinder in 2014 but did not begin dating until two years later — a history they described as their "Tinderella story." Epcot was also where Shelby first told Marissa he loved her and where he later proposed.

Four years after their Disney wedding, the couple returned to announce that their family was growing. Months later, Archie's hospital photos completed that chapter — although one image prompted an unexpected debate online.

Shelby's Shirtless Baby Photo Sparks Questions

While many commenters congratulated the new parents, Shelby's shirtless hospital photo quickly caught some people's attention. "Why does he have no shirt on," one person asked beneath a Country Now Facebook post.

Another wrote, "Why is his clothes off." A third kept the focus firmly on Archie, commenting, "Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉 He's Precious 💙!" The questions continued beneath a separate Facebook post.

"He looks like a mother that just had a baby. 😂why is he in bed without a shirt holding the baby? Or a chair," one commenter wrote. Others were more interested in deciding which parent Archie resembled.

"He looks just like his mama .., 🧡🧡," one person wrote. "Congratulations!!! He looks like his mom. Enjoy the new bundle of joy!!! 😊❤️🙏" another added. For McEntire, the arrival brings a new chapter to a mother-son relationship she has spoken about candidly over the years.

Reba Raised Shelby With One Firm Rule

Shelby, born in 1990, is McEntire's son with her former husband, Narvel Blackstock. Despite her fame, McEntire has said she was determined that her son would not grow up expecting special treatment.

Speaking to People in 2022, she recalled refusing to let Shelby win when they played games or cards. She believed letting him win deliberately would not teach him anything.

McEntire also gave her son a particularly direct warning about how he treated others. "I'll always love you, but I want other people to like you. So don't be a little jerk. Don't be a spoiled brat," she recalled telling him.

The singer said she was "very proud" of the man he had become. Shelby had ADHD and could barely read while in school, McEntire said, but continued pushing himself to improve as an adult. Motherhood had also changed McEntire herself.

"Shelby is a gift from God to me," she told the outlet. McEntire said she had been self-centered "to a degree" before having him, but becoming responsible for protecting, nurturing, loving, and teaching a child shifted the attention away from herself.

Her demanding career did not stop after his birth. McEntire said she took Shelby on the road whenever she could and had help from nannies.

When he could not travel, she sometimes flew home after a concert, got him up the next morning, took him to school, picked him up, and spent time with him before flying out again for another show. "I wanted to be with Shelby. Still do," she said.

Reba Has Long Considered Herself a Grandmother

Archie is McEntire's grandson through her only biological son, but the country star has considered herself a grandmother within the wider Blackstock family for years.

McEntire previously made clear that she did not draw a hard line between Shelby and Narvel's children from his first marriage. "I don't consider Brandon, Chassidy and Shawna step-children ... I claim them all," she told The Boot in 2010.

That extended to the next generation. During the 2018 Kennedy Center Honors, Kelly Clarkson — who was then married to Brandon Blackstock — publicly thanked McEntire for being part of her children's lives.

Clarkson called her "a really rad grandma," according to People. McEntire said that year that she had seven grandchildren, although busy schedules and the distance between their homes meant she did not see them as often as she wanted.

She made the point even more directly in another 2018 interview. "I'm an invisible grandparent," McEntire said, according to PopCulture.com. And she insisted she was not the type to compensate by showering the children with gifts.

"I'm not a spoiling grandma," she said. One of her favorite Christmas memories, however, centered on Shelby as a 3-year-old excitedly tearing into presents without remembering who had given them to him. Decades later, Shelby is now the parent holding his own baby in a hospital photo.

And as Reba McEntire moved from an emerald velvet red-carpet look to sparkling white fringe under the Nashville stage lights, her family was marking a milestone away from the cameras: Shelby and Marissa could finally call themselves "Mom and Dad," and Archie had officially joined the family.