Country legend John Conlee will perform Thursday in Miner

MINER, Mo. -- What started out as a childhood hobby turned into a lifelong vocation for county music legend John Conlee, who will perform next week at the Miner Convention Center in Miner.

Always involved in music as he grew up, Conlee sang and played in church, school and at folk-music festivals.

"Music has always been a part of my life," he said. "Only difference is, for the last 40 years, I've been getting paid for it. But if I wasn't getting paid for it, I'd do it as a hobby anyway. When you love it, you love it."

Conlee started taking guitar lessons when he was 9. Each lesson took 30 minutes, and after he was through, he hung around at a radio station across the street.

"I fell in love with both things at the same time. That's how I ended up falling in love with radio," he said.

During his nine-year career in radio, Conlee got his big break. He started out in Kentucky, and after just a couple of years, he moved into the Nashville, Tennessee, market.

"My foot in the door was thanks to a fella I worked with at the radio station, who hails from Cape Girardeau, Dick Ken Withers," Conlee said. Withers was the program director for WLAC at the time. "He'd been in town long enough that he knew all the people on Music Row -- the publishers and the label people -- so when I started writing a little bit, he could pick up the phone and get me an appointment to go play those songs for people," Conlee said.

After only two or three years, people around Nashville began to take notice of Conlee's music, and by 1978, he had recorded one of his favorite tunes, "Rose Colored Glasses," the title track to his debut album he had a hand in writing.

By 1979, the Academy of Country Music named him New Male Vocalist of the Year. He has charted a total of 32 hit singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs and has won many accolades for his contributions to the country-music industry.

The one he's most proud of is his induction into the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame, not only because it's his home state, but also because the hall of fame encompasses more than just country musicians. Other Kentucky natives who have received the honor run the gamut from Rosemary Clooney to Lionel Richie.

Conlee has another new album, "Classics 3," that will include many of his band's greatest hits, as well as some new music. It's expected to be released in 2017.

Conlee will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Miner Convention Center, 2610 Malone Ave. in Miner, near Sikeston, Missouri.

Tickets for the concert are available at itickets.com or by calling (800) 965-9324. VIP tickets are $50 in advance, which includes preferred seating and a meet-and-greet with the singer, starting at 6:30 p.m. Artist Circle tickets are $35 in advance, and general-admission tickets are $25 in advance. Ticket prices the day of the show will be $5 higher.

Pertinent address:

2610 Malone Ave., Miner, Mo.