MUSIC
THE SEELY STYLE
Legendary Opry Star Jeannie Seely Blends Soul, Pop, Jazz, Country & Humor At this point in your career you could just kick back at the cottage and enjoy life. But here you are, promoting a new album in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. It’s been interesting but a lot of the ways we promote now is through technology. It’s not like back when we did “Don’t Touch Me.” Here’s a funny story about that since you go so far back. Ed Hamilton was the national promotions man for Monument Records when that song came out. He had me on the road on some pretty grueling promo tours. Back then, you had to be at a late-night club somewhere in Texas or at a dancehall or whatever. Then you had to get up early to be on the morning drivetime shows to promote everything. I remember being so tired on that tour. One time, Ed was trying to wake me up, hammering on the motel room door. ‘Are you up, Seely?’ I said, ‘Uh, yeah.” Finally, he said, ‘Do you want a number one record - or do you want to sleep ‘til noon?’ I said, ‘Could I have fifteen more minutes of sleep and just get a top five?’ Did that satisfy him? No, he said, ‘You’d better get out of that bed or I’m gonna have the maid open the door and get you out!’
BY BRET LOVE
I
N THE FALL OF 1966, JEANNIE SEELY released her first album a few months after her debut single “Don’t Touch Me” had rocketed up the charts. Fifty-four years later, The Seely Style is still an appropriate way to describe the legendary singer songwriter. The versatile artist, nicknamed “Miss Country Soul,” recently celebrated her 80th birthday and 53rd year as a member of the Grand Ole Opry with the release of a new album (the aptly titled An American Classic) and a weekly radio show on SiriusXM Channel 59. INsite spoke with the stylish performer by phone from her home in Tennessee. Congratulations on your recent birthday. How are you feeling these days? Well, I’m looking forward to Christmas with the grandchildren but I’m very homesick for the Opry. I won’t lie about that. After fifty-plus years it’s been my second home and I miss it. It’s been a way of life for me as long as I can remember. But on the good side, I actually do like being home. I have a cottage here on the bank of the Cumberland River. I bought it as a retirement place back in 1990. Now I just sit here and watch the boats go by and think how lucky I am. But you’re far from retired. A couple of months ago, An American Classic was released. It’s a really solid record. Your peers might just throw out another greatest hits collection, but you obviously put a lot of time and energy into the project. It really came out of nowhere, too. I can’t believe how well it’s being received. Don Cusic, a wonderful historian and respected music professor at Belmont, called me a while back and asked if he could talk to me after a show one night at the Opry. I had no idea what he wanted. He said he wanted to do this project to show people where I’m at today and how I got here. I was just amazed. Naturally, I said yes! I learned so much from him. He came up with the idea of cutting Paul McCartney’s “Dance Tonight.” A Beatle’s song! I was like, ‘Wait - are you serious about this?’ It turned out to be a fun song and people might not expect me to
do that kind of thing. I’ve been getting a lot of comments about it. I go so far back with your catalog, I remember that you did Lennon and McCartney’s “Yesterday” on your first album. Oh wow! Yeah, I did. I had a lot of arguments from people here in Nashville about doing that. I’d moved here from California and The Beatles had made a remarkable impact on me early on. To me, I thought they were also basically doing country music but with a whole new twist. Like Harlan Howard always said, “It’s three chords and the truth.” That’s the Beatles’ music. I remember learning from all my friends who were great songwriters, people like Hank Cochran or Harlan Howard or Roger Miller or even Willie. They said if you can say so much of the story in one line, in the title, then you’ve probably got a good song. They really knew how to do that. Like “Yesterday,” you know what it’s about, just from the title. Or even “Hard Day’s Night.” You don’t have to explain it. It gives you the feeling instantly. Or “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” You don’t have to ask for details, you get the drift. They were always a great inspiration to me. Thank you for remembering that I did that, all the way back in 1966.
Too bad some of your pals weren’t around, he might have been a little nicer. You’ve got friends in high places. Yeah, I do. When we were making this new record, Don suggested we should invite some guests because I know so many people. He said, ‘Your friends are the heavies in the business.’ I hadn’t even thought about it until he said so. But I am lucky to be able to call Rhonda Vincent or Bill Anderson or Willie Nelson or - oh, my goodness, I guess it just goes on and on. I wanted to include some of the people who have been the closest to me over the years. So we brought in Ray Stevens and Rhonda Vincent and I thought about Waylon Payne to bring in the next generation as well. He’s an incredibly talented young man. I knew his mom and dad, too. He’s had his struggles, like we all have. Willie was always there to give me a hand up when I
needed it and I’m glad that I’m able to do that whenever I can. If this album brings more attention to him, then that’s a good thing. You’ve had a long history of mentoring and supporting young artists. I was laughing about that a while back. Somebody said to me the other day that they were surprised that I have so many young friends. Well, I’m 80 years old, if I’m gonna have any friends at all, I’d better make friends with some younger people! Humor has always been a staple of your act. I just like to make people laugh. I learned that from Roger Miller and from Little Jimmie Dickens. You can have a funny song and then a sad song and if you do it right, the audience will go along with you. You can be funny and then sing a really serious ballad. Roger could play “Do-Wacka-Do” and then turn around and do “Husbands and Wives.” That’s what’s missing today. You know, while we’re shut down, Circle TV are doing the shows at the Opry, but the humor isn’t there because there’s no audience. They’re great shows though, but you can’t beat that live Opry experience. The first week of the shutdown featured an empty Ryman and you were a part of that eerie broadcast. I was. I sent an email to our president and said, ‘Please tell me you’ll do a broadcast even though we’re shut down. We can’t lose the history of never missing a show.’ So Bill Anderson, Connie Smith and I were on the first one in March. Mandy Barnett was also on the bill. Somebody said, ‘Well how can you all do a show with no audience?’ But we do have an audience. They’re all over the world. Millions of people are in that audience, they’re just not in the building. For me, it was just like doing a radio show. I do four hours every Sunday on Willie’s Roadhouse on XM so I just pictured the people who were listening. As far as I’m concerned, they were there! Jeannie Seely’s new album and catalog favorites are available direct from the artist at JeannieSeely.Com.
With your history, all you have to do is look at the calendar. You probably did something monumental on that anniversary. (Laughs) I kept reinventing myself, didn’t I? Like The Beatles, you never made the same album twice. That’s true. I struggled a lot during my career of trying to be in the right place at the right time. So I kept trying different things and different styles of music. But I think that’s true of just about anything you do in life, you’ve got to keep reinventing yourself to keep it fresh so you won’t get old and bored. You don’t have to worry about that. Well who ever heard of getting a recording contact with Curb Records and having a single with Willie Nelson for their 80th birthday? Is that not wonderful? I still can’t believe it. insiteatlanta.com • October 2020 • PG 13
