JEANNIE SEELY
Vintage Country – Old But Treasured
Darktown Strutters Ball – Another Bridge To Burn –
Heaven’s Just A Sin Away – What’s Going On In Your World – Ode To
Billie Joe – What A Way To Live – Funny How Time Slips Away – Half As
Much – Makes Me Wonder If I Ever Said Goodbye – Blanket On The Ground –
Let It Be Me – Don’t Touch Me
Without a doubt, one of my favorite ‘classic and
traditional’ country music artists is Grand Ole Opry star, Jeannie
Seely. It was a real pleasure for me to be able to induct Jeannie Seely
into America’s ‘Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame,’ at Fremont,
Nebraska, during the 44th year of the National Old Time Music Festival
in 2019. I was just watching some of the re-runs of ‘Larry’s Diner,’
and lo and behold, there was Jeannie Seely singing ‘Darktown Strutters
Ball.’ When she introduced this song, she said plainly, “You might not
think this song would sound good as a country song, but it does.” Boy
does it ever. If this doesn’t make you tap your toes, well, you
probably don’t have any toes. What an interesting ‘classic and
traditional’ CD done in that early country style that sounded so
incredibly good in the past, but sounds even better today, simply
because it’s the ‘real’ deal. Jeannie Seely brings all that wonderment
right back to life on this incredible presentation. Steel and piano
lead the first song just right, just as the fiddle does. It’s obvious
to me when the participating musicians are enjoying themselves, and this
one is a definite wham bam thank you maam, this CD is exactly that. As
Jeannie has aged, she has attracted a little ‘time’ to her vocal cords,
which puts a huge amount of ‘meaning’ on every one of these songs.
WOW, no wonder she’s still so active and well known as ‘Ms. Country
Soul.’ She used some of the best Nashville musicians on this project,
Dug Grieves on guitar, Kenny Sears on fiddle, Tim Atwood and Roger
Morris on steel, Tommy White on bass, Danny Davis on bass, and Jerry Ray
Johnston on drums. Jeannie cut this remarkable CD for Cheyenne
Records, her 60th year of creating and performing the best music on
planet earth. She does a remarkable ‘countrified’ version of Bobbie
Gentry’s ‘Ode To Billie Joe” a performer I’ve spent most of my musical
life trying to induct into the same ‘Hall of Fame’ Jeannie just went
into. I’m a failure for sure, never happened, I could never find, even
after years and years of trying, a way to communicate with her. Jeannie
Seely did a super fantastic job for us at Fremont, Nebraska, as she
does regularly on Willie’s Road House, and for sure regularly on the
Grand Ole Opry, where her emcee abilities and her ‘still super valid’
vocalizations that are as good as they have ever been. What a woman!
Thank you Jeannie Seely for allowing us to honor you with Hall of Fame
recognition from the farm folks of the Upper Midwest.
REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART, President National Traditional Country Music Assn. (since 1976) www.music-savers.com for Country Music News International Magazine & Radio Show