Reba McEntire - I'm Gonna Take That Mountain

2003

Reba McEntire - I'm Gonna Take That Mountain (2003) Director: Nancy Bardawil Era: Post-Millennial Country (2003) - Nashville mainstream country revival; McEntire's re-emergence as a recording artist after a four-year studio hiatus, coinciding with her acclaimed Broadway run in Annie Get Your Gun and signaling a confident return to center stage. High curatorial value as a document of a major country artist's commercial and artistic re-emergence in the early 2000s. The video encapsulates the aesthetic and thematic sensibilities of post-millennial mainstream Nashville: assertive female performance, Appalachian landscape mythology, high-energy editing, and the merging of western heritage signifiers with contemporary pop production values. An important artifact for studying both Reba McEntire's long-form image strategy and the broader evolution of country music video aesthetics. Context: Released in 2003, 'I'm Gonna Take That Mountain' marked Reba McEntire's return to recording after a four-year studio absence, during which she starred on Broadway in Annie Get Your Gun. The video's themes of perseverance and triumphant self-assertion mirrored a broader moment in early-2000s country music when female artists were asserting vocal, physical, and thematic boldness. Filmed in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, the production leans into Appalachian and western iconography, mountain vistas, rodeo performance, rural dance, to root its empowerment message in a distinctly American vernacular. The song reached the Billboard Top Country Songs chart and helped launch the platinum-certified album Room to Breathe. Director notes: The video was filmed on location in a rural area of Gatlinburg, TN, utilizing the natural mountain terrain as a primary scenic backdrop. It features Reba McEntire in performance mode, singing, dancing, and executing choreographed routines on a wooden dance floor, interspersed with footage of rodeo performers demonstrating rope and horse tricks. The combination of location-based outdoor shooting with high-energy choreography and fast-paced editing is consistent with Bardawil's cross-genre video style. The video premiered on September 29, 2002, ahead of the single's official August 2003 commercial release.