Country music legend Jeannie Seely to be honored today in Townville

Jeannie Seely, the country music and Grand Ole Opry legend from Townville, is returning to her hometown today for a very special occasion.

New signs honoring her are being dedicated at 6 p.m. in the borough.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, will take place at the Townville Volunteer Fire Department, 33441 Main St.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Seely said in a telephone interview from Nashville, Tennessee, last week. “I was thrilled years ago when the (Townville High School) Class of 1958 put up the first signs.”

Seely is a 1958 graduate of the former Townville High School, which now is part of the Maplewood attendance area of PENNCREST School District.

The new signs, along Route 408 at opposite ends of the borough, are replacing the original ones placed several decades ago in her honor.

“They’ve deteriorated through the years — I’m really thrilled with the new signs,” Seely said.

A country music recording star since 1966, Seely has been not only a singer but a songwriter, record producer, actress and author. And she has never forgotten her roots.

“I’ve always appreciated the support of the people back home,” she said.

Seely got her big break in 1966 with “Don’t Touch Me,” which stayed on the country music charts for more than five months.

The song hit No. 2 on Billboard magazine’s country music chart for three weeks and went on to No. 1 on other major charts.

In June 1966, Seely made her first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry stage and in September 1967 was invited to join. She’s made more than 5,200 Grand Ole Opry appearances — and still counting — since.

Shelly McPherson, Townville’s mayor, said she got the idea for signs about a year ago as Seely means a lot to the Townville community.

“We wanted to update them and make them look nice,” she said.

As fate would have it, Seely herself knew a sign maker.

Seely is the record producer for Cutter & Cash and The Kentucky Grass, a bluegrass group. Brennan Cruce, a bass player in the bluegrass group, actually has a sign business.

“We met her several years ago through music hanging out here in Nashville. We were at the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree,” Cruce said. “One thing led to another here we are she’s producing our albums and pitching songs to us.”

“The fact I’m in the sign business I worked one-on-one with her,” he said. “She told me what colors she wanted. What she wanted it to say and all that.

“We came up a draft for it, sent it to her — and right out of the gate, she said that’s what she wanted,” Cruce said with a laugh.