Jeannie Seely, Who Pushed Boundaries and Broke Hearts at the Grand Ole Opry, Dies at 85

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She blazed a trail for women in country music with the candor of her songs and her bold fashion sense. She was also the first woman to host a segment on the Opry.

By Bill Friskics-Warren

Jeannie Seely, who in the 1960s helped transform the image of women in country music from demure, gingham-clad helpmeet to self-possessed free spirit, died on Friday in Hermitage, Tenn., a suburb of Nashville. She was 85.

Her death, in a hospital, was announced by the Country Music Association. The cause was an intestinal infection, said Don Murry Grubbs, Ms. Seely’s publicist.