Jeanne Pruett

Country singer and songwriter Jeanne Pruett is best known for her 1973 hit “Satin Sheets.” She was inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast in 1973 and the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in 2023. In subsequent decades, she gained success as a cookbook writer.   

Pruett was born Norma Jean Bowman on January 30, 1937, near Pell City, St. Clair County.  Her family shared a love of music, and, throughout Pruett’s youth, they could often be found singing and playing music on the front porch of their farmhouse. Eager to live an adult life, she left school in the tenth grade and took a job at the telephone company in Anniston, Calhoun County.

While in Anniston, Pruett often attended dances at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Hall, where she met the members of the band Curley Williams and the Georgia Peach Pickers, who frequently performed there. A Grand Ole Opry member since 1943, Curley Williams had recently written the song “Half as Much,” which became a hit for Hank Williams and was later recorded by Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and Van Morrison. Jeanne developed a close friendship with Curley Williams’s young daughter Morelle, and she also began dating the band’s guitarist Jack Pruett, whom she would later marry. When the band relocated to Montgomery, Montgomery County, in 1953, she joined them. At one of the band’s Montgomery performances, Pruett sang on stage with the band and immediately fell in love with performing.

When Jack was sent to West Germany for military service, Jeanne moved to Birmingham, Jefferson County, to live with Jack’s sister and work as a server in her restaurant. Soon after he returned, Jack took a job playing guitar for country artist Ray Price. Jeanne and Jack married in 1955; they would have two children. In 1956, Jack took a job as lead guitarist for country and western star Marty Robbins, with whom he would work for many years.

In 1963, Pruett released her first single, “Just a Little After Heartaches.” She released several more singles within the next two years, but, when none of these recordings gained much commercial success, she turned her focus to her family and her home. After her children began school, Pruett dedicated herself to songwriting. She wrote several songs for Marty Robbins, including “Count Me Out,” which in 1966 became his first hit in several years. Impressed by her voice, Robbins shared some of Pruett’s demos with RCA executive and noted guitarist Chet Atkins, helping her to gain a record contract. For several years, Pruett gained little traction in her recording career, although she continued writing songs for Robbins.

A few years later, Robbins shared a couple of Pruett’s demo tapes with Owen Bradley, an executive at Decca records. Impressed by what he called her “housewife sound,” he brought her into the studio to record songs of her own. In 1971, Pruett released “Hold to My Unchanging Love,” her own composition; it became her first song to chart. Later that year, Pruett embarked on her first tour, during which she performed at U.S. military bases in West Germany and Italy. The soldiers appreciated her music as well as her sense of humor. The following year, she released the single "Love Me," which made it to number 34 on Billboard’s country chart. Its success led to her debut album on Decca Records, Love Me. The album did not chart, but critics were generally positive.

In 1973, Pruett released the iconic single “Satin Sheets.” Written by John Volinkaty, the song explores how material gifts can be a lonely substitute for real love. The song, also the title cut on her 11-track Satin Sheets album, quickly reached number one on Billboard’s hot country singles charts, becoming the defining song of Pruett’s career. The song also achieved success on the pop charts, peaking at number 28 on Billboard’s Hot 100. The album spent eight weeks atop the country charts in between Behind Closed Doors by Charlie Rich and Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man by Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn. Pruett marketed the song herself by cutting up 1,600 pieces of satin and mailing them to radio stations and music executives across the country. The song was later recorded by Loretta Lynn (1973), Tammy Wynette (1974), Hank Williams Jr. (1992), Dolly Parton (1996), and Martina McBride (2005). Soon after the release of “Satin Sheets,” Pruett was asked to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry cast, a coveted distinction. She would perform as a regular on the cast throughout the next decade.

Also in 1973, Pruett released “I’m Your Woman,” which reached number eight on Billboard’s country charts. Around the same time, Marty Robbins released the hit single “Love Me,” written by Pruett. She continued to release albums in the 1970s: Jeanne Pruett in 1974, Honey on His Hands in 1975, and Encore in 1979. Jeanne Pruett and Encore were the most successful, reaching 19 and 18 on Billboard’s top country albums, respectively. She also toured regularly throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. She released several more hit singles in these years, including the songs “You Don’t Need to Move a Mountain” and “Temporarily Yours.” By this time, the Pruett children were musicians themselves. Both would join her touring band, with son Jack Pruett Jr. playing bass guitar and daughter Jael Pruett singing harmony.

Jeanne and Jack Pruett divorced in 1982. In 1985, she released her sixth and final studio album, Jeanne Pruett, which again featured “Satin Sheets.” That same year, Pruett married Eddie Fulton, who had previously worked as her road manager; he also had driven tour buses for The Eagles, Loretta Lynn, and Yanni. Pruett and Fulton were married for 34 years before his death in 2019.  

In the 1980s, Pruett’s music career slowed, and she turned her focus to cooking. In 1986, she published the first of her popular Feedin’ Friends cookbook series. After the four volumes in the series achieved success, she operated the restaurant JP’s Feedin’ Friends in the country music theme park Opryland for several years. 

Pruett announced her retirement from performing in 2006. She now lives on a farm outside of Nashville. In 2018, she released her memoir Miss Satin Sheets: I Remember.