The coronavirus pandemic has been hard on everyone, including Grand Ole Opry member Jeannie Seely. The singer — who turns 80 on Monday, July 6 — has been home for several months, but is eager for life to return to normal, and for fans to return to the Opry house.

“My first inclination is I wanna walk in and hug everybody I haven’t had a chance to see,”Jeannie told The Tennessean. “I’ll be so glad when they find a vaccine and medicines that work, so we can get back.”

If anyone deserves to be back at the Grand Ole Opry, it’s Jeannie. The country music icon paved the way for an entire generation of female artists behind her, making her one of the most influential artists of the past few decades, from wearing a mini-skirt on the sacred stage — an unheard of act 60 years ago — to emceeing a segment of one of the weekly shows.

“The relevance of that miniskirt was that I got away with wearing what my choice was,” said Jeannie, who made her Opry debut in 1966. “It didn’t mean that all the other girls could wear a miniskirt. When I did that and got away with, they were allowed to … wear whatever they wanted to wear.”

She might have won the wardrobe war, but it wasn’t until 1985 that she was allowed to helm part of the show.

“That was a hard-won battle,” Jeannie admitted. “That wasn’t just given to me … that was a door that I kicked in incessantly to get open.”

Jeannie might not be performing at the Opry these days, but in the meantime she is still working on new music. The country music icon will release a new album, An American Classic, out on August 14, which includes a duet, “Not A Dry Eye In The House,” with her longtime friend, Willie Nelson. She insists she has no plans of slowing down anytime soon.

“It truly is a gift,” Jeannie said of her lengthy career, adding that she “loves everything” about her life in country music. “There are many years in my career, I’ll admit, I didn’t realize that. Your talent and all of this is a gift to use for other people.”

The Pennsylvania native is also anxious to return to the Grand Ole Opry, which she seems to appreciate more and more as the years go by.

“I treasure where I am right now. I truly do,” Jeannie noted. “I never at one time imagined myself in the position of the role of Jimmy Dickens or Porter Wagoner or Mr. (Roy) Acuff, but truly I’m there now. And I love this position. I love seeing the new talent come in, because that means the Opry’s gonna live on.”