Country legend John Conlee’s ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ remains a personal favorite

John Conlee may be a “Common Man,” as he proclaims in one of his chart-topping hits. But his legendary career has been marked by uncommonly good songs and an uncommon voice.

With his distinctively expressive baritone gracing such heartfelt country sentiments as “In My Eyes” and “Backside of Thirty,” and his signature song, “Rose Colored Glasses,” Conlee scored seven No. 1 hits in the late 1970s and ’80s.

While Nashville cashed in on the citizens band radio and Urban Cowboy fads, Conlee achieved his success by following his heart.

“(We) went through a phase of CB radio songs,” says Conlee in a phone interview before coming to the Clayton Center, where he’ll perform Sept. 22.

“The first one came out, then everybody chased that rabbit,” he said. “I’ve never done that. I don’t chase those trends because they always fade away. We just look for the best songs regardless of tempo or subject. Because of that, we’ve been able to produce a body of work with songs that have ... a story to tell.”

Conlee, raised on a Kentucky tobacco farm, worked as a licensed mortician and deejay before moving to Nashville for a job at radio station WLAC. While he had dabbled in songwriting, his residency in Music City encouraged a more serious endeavor. He began pitching songs to Nashville’s publishers with little success until they heard demo tapes of his “Rose Colored Glasses” and “Backside of Thirty.”

“I got to know some of the people in publishing companies and other writers,” he said. “So I started pitching those songs in my spare time. That evolved into an offer to record. They didn’t want the songs, but they always wanted to know who was singing the demo, which was me. So that’s how we kind of backed into the music business as a career instead of a hobby.”

“Rose Colored Glasses” was and remains a special song for Conlee, who’s a regular performer at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. He’s been a member since 1981.

“Of the two, I thought it had the best chance of being an important record,” he said. “It turned out to be the standard.”

While “Rose Colored Glasses” is his best-known song, “Common Man” has become a sort of working man’s anthem. But Conlee doesn’t just sing the song, he personifies it.

“I live on a farm in Tennessee, and I still have the farm I was raised on in Kentucky, so I spend a lot of time on a tractor,” he says. “And I do almost all the maintenance on my bus. So I’m doing working man things, I guess you’d say. I love doing it.”

Conlee also devotes time to promoting social causes. In 2015, he recorded “Walking Behind the Star,” a tribute to law enforcement officers. He’s contributed to Farm Aid, and his “Busted” campaign, named for the title track of his 1982 album, raises money for charities at his concerts. The Harlan Howard composition sings of a family down on their luck and planning to move north for jobs unavailable down south.

“For the last 30 years we’ve done a campaign around ‘Busted,’ ” he says. “We did a show in California years ago, and people started bringing money to me on the stage. So we turned that into a campaign for Feed the Children. A few years ago, because our nation is in wars that have produced so many wounded warriors, the ... campaign now goes to them and to law enforcement. “

Whether working for charity or singing fan favorites, Conlee has no intention of hanging up the microphone. His latest recordings include a bluegrass version of “Common Man” on Garner’s Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road’s CD, “Country Grass.” He’s planning a gospel album because, he says, “I believe our world and our country have a great need to turn back to God.”

And, of course, he’ll be sharing that great, one-of-a-kind Conlee voice.

“I’ve been blessed and I continue to be,” he said. “People still want to hear what we do. So long as that’s true and I can do it, I plan on being out there.”

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 11:30 AM with the headline "Country legend John Conlee’s ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ remains a personal favorite."