Exclusive: Jeannie Seely Shares 5 Classic Country Career Memories—Including Wearing a Tablecloth on Stage

Jeannie Seely and Dottie West were country music’s famous friends decades before Chris Young and Kane Brown turned the phrase into a multi-week No. 1 hit song.

West recorded “Suffertime” around 1966. Almost six decades later, Seely decided she wanted to rerecord the song. She released her new version of “Suffertime” on July 19.
At 84 years old, Jeannie Seely is the oldest working female in country music. Her decades of experience in the genre come with decades of memories. Dottie West stars in her favorite ones. Seely shared some of her favorite classic country music memories with American Songwriter the day she released “Suffertime.”

Jeannie Seely Says Boredom Leads to Hijinks

“We spent so much time together. I think people’s imaginations just came up with tricks to pull on each other, jokes to tell, and things to do just because we had to break the monotony and entertain ourselves,” she said. “Those are some of my favorite memories of times on the road. A lot of my favorite memories are with Dottie West. Dottie and I were so close and swapped clothes and accessories.”

Seely Couldn’t Wait for the Bus to Stop Rolling

Some of Seely’s favorite times date back to the package shows with Bill Anderson, Jim Ed Brown, Helen Cornelius, Del Reeves, and Jan Howard.

“We would bus in there,” Seely recalled. “The old package shows where you’d have the routine was usually the biggest headliner of the day, and then the stronger supporting acts, and then the newer act would be on the show.  Usually either a bluegrass and or gospel group would finish it. I loved those shows. But we would laugh because when you pulled into the auditorium, the bus driver could barely get the bus stopped, and the brakes locked down before we were all piling off of the bus and running to one of the other buses to see our friends.”

That Time Jeannie Seely Wore a Tablecloth on Stage

Seely remembers playing a fair date in Florida with Del Reeves. Reeves was singing his hit “Girl On A Billboard,” and Seely wrapped herself in a white paper tablecloth and walked across the stage behind him. The audience howled in laughter, she said.

“I was walking across the stage behind him, and the audience was all laughing,” Seely said.  “He couldn’t see. Every time he would turn one way, I would duck behind him so that he couldn’t see me. And when he turned the other way, I’d step back.”

Reeves didn’t see her until she had walked all the way across the stage.

The Dirty Business of Identity Theft

Years ago, tour buses had displays on the front labeling which artist was on the bus. Seely said that whenever West’s bus got dirty or broke down, she’d put Seely’s name on it.

“That was always a fun thing,” Seely said. “She said, ‘I didn’t want ’em to think it was mine.’”

Payback is Rough

While West may have put Seely’s name on her dirty bus, Seely took West’s mic and walked out to sing her first song one night in Illinois. The women were playing at different venues, and after Seely’s show finished, she headed to West’s second set at the Flame Club. Seely went through the back door and asked West’s guitar player what song she opened with. He told her, “Night Train to Memphis.”

“When they announced that, I just reached over and took Dottie’s microphone, and I went out on stage singing ‘Night Train to Memphis,’” Seely said. The audience, they’re like, ‘You aren’t Dottie West.’ They’re all cheering, and then the applause just kind of slowed down as they’re like, ‘Wait a minute, that’s not Dottie.’ And then I said, ‘Oh, excuse me. That’s right. You were expecting Dottie West.’ Then I introduced her again. We had a lot of fun with that.”