Jeannie had cut a demo record for one of her songwriter friends, Royce Clark called “The Old Town Drunk.” It was a sarcastic ballad of the old drunk that everyone in town made fun of until one day when they found his hat floating in the river and his shoes next to the river bank. The whole town got concerned and started dragging the river looking for his body. All the while the old town drunk was on the hillside, overlooking

the entire scene, laughing. He finally came down and told the folks he was glad he was so well thought of.


When the song was played for producer Shelby Singleton of Plantation records. He wanted to know, “who’s that girl doing the singing?” Shelby had been presented a song from a struggling songwriter named Tom Hall called “Harper Valley P.T.A.” but he was not sold on the song due

to the arrangement and the voice of the singer on the demo. It was
a definite copy of the song “Ode to Billy Joe” which was a hit a year prior. The voice of the singer was just too smooth, he thought. This song need punch and sarcasm. But once he heard Jeannie’s rendition of “The Old Town Drunk,” it clicked. And he said, get me that girl and a song I’ve got called “Harper Valley P.T.A.” and I will cut you a million seller.


When Jeannie was presented with the tape, she did not want to do the song. They kept telling her they wanted to cut a pop record and they also wanted to change her name. There was already Jeannie Seely, Jean Shepard, Jeanne Pruett, Jeannie O’Neal, Jeannie Steakly ... Shelby wanted her to be named Rhonda Renae.


After Jeannie refused, not wanting to lose her country identity even before she ever gained it. And how would the folks back in Anson, Texas know who she was if she was Rhonda Renae. They continued to pressure Jeannie to record the song, they came around and said she could go ahead and keep her own name and promised to tear up the contract if things did not go well. Jeannie reluctantly gave in, although

she was filled with resentment towards them and angry at herself for not having enough guts to say no. So she promised to go in after work on friday night and cut “Harper Valley P.T.A.” for Shelby Singleton and Plantation Records.


On friday, July 26, 1968 Jeannie had been working for Passkey Music

on Music Row as a receptionist. She had been angry all day. For 2 years knocking on door after door and ending up disappointed. They kept telling her that they were going to cut a pop hit and she wanted to be

a country artist. She felt all her friends had betrayed her by twisting her arm saying she must record this song. Her manager threaten to
quit if she would not go through with it. She was mad at the whole world.


She closed the door to the office at 5 o’clock and walked next door to Columbia Studio. It was a hot, humid evening. The producer, Shelby Singleton, kept saying the song was “just right” for her voice, just right to catch the angry mood of a nation fed up with hypocrisy. Jeannie glanced at the music and listened as Jerry Kennedy, the session leader, begin his cadence countdown. She began to tap her foot to the beat, she stepped up to the microphone. The guitars began strummin’, Jerry’s dobro was going “dwoang, dwoang,” and suddenly she was into the song.


From the very fist word her mood and lyrics came together in
a magical blend.


I want to tell you all a story about a Harper Valley widowed wife.

Who had a teenage daughter who attended Harper Valley Junior High ...

She stood close to the mike and let it pour out, sassing everything she hated. There wasn’t a sound as the last echo of the guitars faded. Then one of the musicians said “Great Gawd A’mighty.”

It had taken 15 minutes to cut the first tape. Then someone in the studio suggested that they change the line “... the day that momma broke up the Harper Valley P.T.A.” to “...the day my momma socked it to, the Harper Valley P.T.A.” A popular phrase used by Joe Tex “Sock it to me, baby,” No one in country music used terms like that, so they went back for one more take. Suddenly she was in it. The lyrics, the music, literally made Jeannie the Harper Valley girl. Caught up in it, she snorted and sneered the anger of the world. That was it. What the world heard was what was done the second time around in the studio - the dobro licks and all, nothing else added or deleted.