Some Things Are Meant to Be (Arista, 1996)

Although Linda Davis still has some of mentor's vocal flourishes and they share the same manager ), "Some Things Are Meant To Be" is another step out of Reba McEntire's formidable shadow. Davis may not have Reba's peppy charisma, but she does have more blue-eyed soul. The best songs play to this strength, such as "Walk Away" where she tells a departing lover not only does she not want to still be friends, she doesn't want to ever accidentally meet him on the street, and "Cast Iron Heart" an explanation to a sympathy-seeking ex-boyfriend as to why she doesn't have any for him. When Davis covers "Neither One Of Us" she doesn't challenge Gladys Knight's classic rendition as many lesser cover artists would, she slows it down, makes it a little bluesier, a lot countrier and makes the song her own. There is of course a duet with Reba here, but it's not the show stopper that "Does He Love You?" was. On "If I Could Live Your Life" a celebrity and a housewife pine for the other's lifestyle. Reba sounds great, and the fact that when the jet-setter longs for the PTA and the grocery store it doesn't ring true is not her fault, but an inherent weakness of this type of song.