John Conlee’s road included stops as mortician, disc jockey

Country music John Conlee will bring his sound to the World Famous Rodeo Club near Dadeville Friday night. The Grand Ole Opry member is best known for hits like ‘Rose Colored Glasses,” “Common Man” and “Back Side of 30.”

When you think about country music legend John Conlee, who will appear at the Rodeo Club Lake Martin Event Center in Dadeville at 9 p.m. on July 29, chances are his hit song “Rose Colored Glasses” pops to mind.

“I wrote ‘Rose Colored Glasses’ along with a friend of mine named George Baber,” Conlee said Tuesday. “We worked together at a couple of different radio stations and at the time we were working together at WLAC in Nashville. I wrote the first two verses and the chorus of the song and then was visiting George and played what I had of it for him. He picked up a pencil and wrote what we turned into the third verse, which gives the song a little bit of hope that maybe things are going to turn around somewhere along the way.”