The Daily Times

In a time before Internet, video games and hanging out at the mall, the Tennessee Valley Fair was a land of enchantment for East Tennessee young people.

Like the mysterious Scottish village in “Brigadoon,” it came to town for 10 days, filling the skies of East Knoxville with flashing neon lights, whip-saw rides of breakneck speed and the smells of hot grease, fried foods and spun sugar. It was an enchanting place that rivaled most holidays in terms of the reverence in which area children held it, and country star Con Hunley was no different.

He often had to earn his way into the fair — the 92nd version of which runs through this weekend — but he always had fun.

“It was probably, but to a lesser degree, a lot like Christmas,” Hunley told The Daily Times this week. “It was a real big deal for kids to get to go. The rides and the games and the animals — it was just a great, festive time, and if you had a lot of brothers and sisters, that even made it better.”

As his music career started to take off, the fair lost none of its charm for the Central High School graduate, he added.

“I remember playing at the old WIVK tent, behind the old Jacob’s Building,” Hunley said. “It was hot and sweaty, and I remember playing there for the first time, where all the country stars had played, and I remember thinking, ‘I’ve made the big time.’”

Country music would take him to places much bigger and more lavish than that old tent, and as time went on, it would grind Hunley beneath its metaphorical cowboy boots as well. These days, however, he’s older, wiser and more content than he ever was back in the days when his name was synonymous with chart success.

And he’s even come full circle. Saturday night, he’ll perform at the Homer Hamilton Amphitheatre at the fair as one of the nightly headline entertainers. And because it’s for a hometown crowd, it’s even more of an honor, he said.

“To be able to go back and play the fair on that Saturday night slot — and I’ve played it several years in succession now — is great,” he said. “I’m grateful to be invited back every year.”

Born and raised in Fountain City, Hunley grew up singing gospel music in church, and when he was 9, his parents bought him a guitar for Christmas and taught him basic chords and a few simple songs. Although he taught himself how to play thumb-style in the tradition of Chet Atkins, he took to the piano his folks bought for his sister a few years later, and he taught himself to play the Ray Charles hit “What’d I Say.”

It was the R&B music of Charles that had the biggest impact on Hunley’s burgeoning interest in music, and it would stay with him throughout his career. He gradually started playing around Knoxville in 1964 before joining the Air Force a year later. During his service, he learned a trade, was shuffled around the country and played with other soldier-musicians before returning home to Knoxville in 1968.

Shortly thereafter, he began his fabled association with The Corner Lounge on North Central Street in Knoxville, playing there for tips and building a growing fan base over the next 10 years. In 1975, he went to Nashville, where he was paired with ace session musicians to cut a few songs. One of them, “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do,” received national airplay, and when hometown radio station WIVK-FM asked him participate in a celebrity golf tournament, Hunley found himself on stage in front of fellow musicians and golfers.

He only sang two songs, but within the next couple of weeks, he had five offers from various labels. He eventually signed with Warner Bros. Records and began charting a string of hits, including “What’s New With You,” “Oh Girl,” “You’ve Still Got a Place in My Heart” and others. He toured with the Oak Ridge Boys, Alabama and Tammy Wynette, and during that period he was nominated for both Male Vocalist of the Year and Newcomer of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.

But clashes with a certain label executive led to his ouster from country music radio. The year was 1986, and the song was “What Am I Gonna Do About You” — a song that had the potential to be the biggest of Hunley’s career. It ended up peaking at No. 48 before Capitol Records put the brakes on promoting it, and even then it didn’t go off the charts without a fight.

“The bottom fell out of everything at Capitol (his label at the time), and they tried to kill it, but radio wouldn’t let it die,” Hunley said. “Then Reba went in and cut it, and she had a monster hit with it.”

Reba’s version went to No. 1; Hunley packed it up and came back home to East Tennessee. He built a dry-cleaning chain with his brother, got involved in charity work and eventually kicked an alcohol habit that had gotten out of hand. After years of fielding fan inquiries for more music, got back into the studio a decade ago. His comeback album, “Sweet Memories,” was released in 2004. It was greeted with warm reviews (Country Music Television picked it as one of the network’s Top 10 CDs of 2004), as was “Shoot From the Heart,” which came out in 2006.

Earlier this year, Hunley released “Lost and Found: The MCA/Capitol Years,” re-recorded versions of songs he originally cut for those two labels in the 1980s. It a joint effort by Hunley and his long-time producer Norro Wilson, and his blue-eyed country soul sound is in full command of every track, serving as vindication for a voice that should have been one of the biggest to come out of the mid-1980s country movement.

“It’s more or less a validation of the songs I was recording for MCA and Capitol,” Hunley said. “They’re good songs — really good songs — but if you listen to the music, there was more that was going on with me than just the music.”

In addition to his version of “What Am I Gonna Do About You,” the album includes songs like “Satisfied Mind,” “Nobody Ever Gets Enough Love,” “I’d Rather Be Crazy Than Out of Her Mind” and “All American Country Boy,” the inspiration for which he attributes to his father, he said with a chuckle.

“Most of the songs I’ve done have been tilted toward the female audience, but my dad said to me one time, ‘When are you gonna do a hairy-legged country boy song?’” Hunley said. “It wasn’t long after that I got that song and cut it. When I do it live, it gets a great response. I loved all those songs back then, and I was really glad to have the opportunity to go back in and cut them.”

Already, he’s working on two follow-up records — his next country album, featuring songs co-written by Hunley, Nashville veteran Larry Shell and others; and a gospel CD of originals and old songs Hunley used to sing growing up in church.

These days, he said, it’s a blessing just to have the opportunity to sing. And to do so on Saturday night for a hometown crowd is even better — even if it is a little nerve-wracking.

“They know you better than anybody, and you want to do your best,” he said. “But I’ve always had a really great time singing at the fair. Everybody has been so kind to me, and they appreciate and enjoy the music — and that’s what it’s all about. I’ve been blessed to be able to keep my pipes and still be able to pick and grin and sing, and I’m very thankful for that.”

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