It seems everybody in Nashville has a story about late County Music trailblazer Jeannie Seely, in the wake of her passing on August 1st. Author Don Cusic could write a book about the late boundary-busting singer, and their time in the studio – in 2020 – recording what became Seely’s final album.
As his mind sifts through memories, Cusic takes comfort in the lyrics he wrote, which Seely brought to life with her soulful voice.
Let me lie down by peaceful waters
Let my soul be soothed and refreshed
Let my burdens and all my troubles
Be laid aside and put to rest
Cusic’s song “Peaceful Waters” appears on Seely’s album An American Classic, released by Curb Records in 2021.
“It was a real treat–an honor, really–to work with Jeannie,” Cusic said. “She was the ultimate professional in the studio. In everyday life, you never had to worry about what Jeannie thought about something–she let you know in a hurry. She was one-of-a-kind.”
Radio stations are now playing “Peaceful Waters” as they help their listeners – many of them Jeannie Seely fans – cope with the loss of one of Country music’s greatest defenders of – and last connections to – tradition.
Shortly after the song’s release, Cusic recalls people contacting Curb Records, requesting sheet music so they could perform “Peaceful Waters” at services for their own loved ones.
“Peaceful Waters” opens with a mournful bagpipe, before bowing to a deliberately deep vocal delivery by Seely. It is the same sultry, soulful voice that catapulted her classic signature song, “Don’t Touch Me” to the top of the charts in 1966, but with a broader resonance, and a greater yearning for rest and reconciliation.
Her tender vocal finds rest when, near the end, it curtsies to the bagpipe again, closing the song on a note that leaves the listener suspended somewhere between heartache and hope.
Cusic remembers going to the Grand Ole Opry just to watch Seely perform.
“She was always a consummate performer who delighted audiences with that soulful voice,” he recalls.
Now, as fans pauses to honor the life and legacy of the woman behind that lenegdary voice, Cusic hopes their grief won’t blind them to Seely’s second greatest gift.
“She was funny, too.”