After graduating from Central High School in Knoxville, Hunley began playing with local bands, maturing musically and gaining his first fans.
Hunley joined the Air Force in 1965,[1] and spent most of his service on a military base in Illinois, teaching aircraft mechanics.
[1] He toured throughout the U.S., playing large venues around the country with other musical acts, including Alabama, the Oak Ridge Boys, Larry Gatlin, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.
He teamed again producer Norro Wilson, the architect of several of his early Warner Brothers hits, and added his first new recorded product in twenty years, Sweet Memories, to his catalog.
Hunley participates in celebrity golf tournaments around the country, and hosts one of his own each year in his hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, which has raised over a million dollars for charities benefiting underprivileged children.