Ray Stevens: John Conlee CabaRay Nashville performance...

Hello all once again!! Earlier this morning the Ray Stevens social media sites uploaded an interview and performance from John Conlee (who's celebrating a birthday today) from an episode of CabaRay Nashville. John appeared in a first season episode and he shared half of the episode with Jeff Bates. It's one of the few episodes of Ray's show to have multiple guests. I've been a fan of John Conlee for years...a fan of his songs. I'm not as into his career as I am Ray's but I have a lot of John's albums and I know some things about him.

Ray Stevens and John Conlee; CabaRay Nashville

John Conlee is a former mortician and radio newscaster. He worked as a newscaster for WLAC radio in Nashville, TN. His first venture in the music industry was in the mid '70s with "Backside of Thirty"...the first time around the single didn't hit...but a couple years later he emerged with "Rose Colored Glasses" (1978) and it hit the Top-10. He followed this with "Lady Lay Down" and it hit number one. His record label, ABC, then re-released "Backside of Thirty" and it hit number one. All three songs are from his debut album, Rose Colored Glasses. The following year the record company he was recording for, ABC, was bought out by MCA.

Me and John Conlee cassette; 1982

I became aware of John Conlee's songs in the early '80s prior to my discovering the songs of Ray Stevens. As I've written in earlier blog entries a lot of my earliest exposure to country music artists was through my grandparents and often my parents. However, more specifically, it was my grandfather who introduced me to the songs of George Jones, Merle Haggard, Dave Dudley, John Conlee, and ultimately, Ray Stevens. I became aware of Conway Twitty, Charley Pride, Tom T. Hall, Ronnie Milsap, and all kinds of other recording artists as I was being raised in the 1980s with country music in the background. That cassette tape you see of Busted by John Conlee was originally issued in 1982. We had an 8-track of Busted and it's that album that introduced me to John Conlee. In addition to the Top-10 title track, which became one of John's signature hits, it also included the memorable Top-10 "I Don't Remember Loving You" and the number one hit, "Common Man". In John's appearance on CabaRay Nashville he sings "Common Man" and tells the story behind the song. He also discusses his years at WLAC and his entry into the music business. John has a very distinct voice...some say it's raspy...but it's unlike any other recording artist. His voice hasn't really changed during his entire career. He's a long time champion of the Farm Aid fundraisers that Willie Nelson, John Mellancamp, and Neil Young created. His support of the family farmer and the American worker led to his recording songs that fit those causes and in later years he began incorporating songs that championed the military. His recordings of songs such as "Backside of Thirty", "She Loves My Troubles Away", "The In Crowd", "Friday Night Blues", "Miss Emily's Picture", "Common Man", "Working Man", "The Carpenter", "Domestic Life", "They Also Serve", and "Walkin' Behind the Star" cemented his reputation as a singer for the everyday person. John became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1981. Here now is the Ray Stevens interview of John Conlee and the performance of "Common Man"...