Steve Wariner
Encyclopedia
Steven Noel "Steve" Wariner (born December 25, 1954) is an American country music
singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records
, and three each on RCA Records
, Arista Records
and Capitol Records
. He has also charted more than fifty singles on the Billboard
country singles charts, including ten Number One hits: "All Roads Lead to You
", "Some Fools Never Learn
", "You Can Dream of Me
", "Life's Highway
", "Small Town Girl
", "The Weekend
", "Lynda
", "Where Did I Go Wrong
", and "I Got Dreams
", and "What If I Said
", a duet with Anita Cochran
from her album Back to You
. Three of his studio albums have been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States.
In addition to writing or co-writing most of his own songs, Wariner holds several writing credits for other artists, including Number One hits for Clint Black
and Garth Brooks
, as well as singles for Bryan White
and Keith Urban
. Other artists with whom he has worked include Nicolette Larson
, Glen Campbell
, Mark O'Connor
, Asleep at the Wheel
and Brad Paisley
. Wariner has also won four Grammy Award
s: one for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, and three for Best Country Instrumental, the most recent in 2010 for "Producer's Medley" from the album Steve Wariner, c.g.p., My Tribute to Chet Atkins. Steve Wariner was one of only four guitar players in the world to be given the "Certified Guitar Player" (CGP) award by Chet Atkins
(five including Atkins himself).
Wariner became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1996. He was inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville in 2008, and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
, on December 25, 1954. Influenced at an early age by George Jones
and Chet Atkins
, Wariner started performing in his father's band, and later moved on to playing in local clubs. By age 17, he had been hired by Dottie West
as a bass guitar
ist, and played on her single "Country Sunshine". He also worked with Glen Campbell
, whom he has cited as a major influence on his work. After his stint with Dottie West, Steve Wariner toured playing bass for Grand Ole Opry star Bob Luman
, and it was during this period that he was signed to RCA records by Chet Atkins
.
. His first single release for the label, "I'm Already Taken", peaked at #63 and was later recorded by Conway Twitty
. Following it were five non-album singles, one of which ("The Easy Part's Over") fell one space short of Top 40 on the Billboard
country charts. His first Top 40 hit, "Your Memory", came in late 1980 and peaked at #7. It was the first of six singles from his self-titled debut album, which also produced the #6 "By Now" and his first Number One, 1981's "All Roads Lead to You". Wariner's debut earned favorable comparisons to Glen Campbell
for the low tuning of his guitar.
His second album for RCA, 1983's Midnight Fire, accounted for five singles. The lead single "Don't Your Memory Ever Sleep at Night" peaked at #23 , while the next two singles became Top Five hits (the title track and "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers"). The final single fell short of Top 40, however. After this he exited RCA's roster and signed with MCA. RCA released a Greatest Hits package in 1985, promoted with the single "When We're Together." Since it was competing with his new singles on MCA, it didn't garner much attention and failed to chart. A year later, the label issued Down in Tennessee, which he had originally recorded for them in 1978 and which included "I'm Already Taken". To promote this album, RCA released the single "You Make It Feel So Right." This was a newly remixed version of the song, which was now a duet with Carol Chase. (The track had appeared on the previous year's Greatest Hits as a solo recording.) However, as with the previous RCA release, this single faced competition from his new MCA recordings, and also failed to chart.
in 1984, he began a string of consecutive Top Ten hits that lasted into the 1990s. The first of these was the #3 "What I Didn't Do", the first of three singles from his 1984 album One Good Night Deserves Another. Following it were the #8 "Heart Trouble" and his second Number One, "Some Fools Never Learn". He also collaborated with pop singer Nicolette Larson
on her Top Ten country hit "That's How You Know When Love's Right", her only Top 40 country single. It was also during this time that Steve recorded the theme song for the ABC television sitcom, Who's the Boss?
. Wariner's version of "Brand New Life", used from 1986 to 1990, is the most widely recognized rendition of the song.
His next album, Life's Highway, accounted for two consecutive Number Ones in "You Can Dream of Me" and the title track, while all three singles from the next album (1987's It's a Crazy World
) went to Number One as well: "Small Town Girl", "The Weekend" and "Lynda". Wariner also sang duet vocals on Glen Campbell's 1987 single "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle".
I Should Be with You
was Wariner's fourth release for MCA. Although none of its singles went to Number One, the album accounted for consecutive #2s in "Baby I'm Yours" and its title track. 1989's I Got Dreams
produced the chart-toppers "Where Did I Go Wrong" and its title track, and by the end of the decade, Wariner had eight Number Ones on the country singles charts.
Laredo
, released in 1990, was his final release for MCA. Lead-off single "The Domino Theory" peaked at #7, followed by the Mac McAnally
co-write "Precious Thing" at #8 and "There for Awhile" at #17, his first single since 1984 not to reach Top Ten. After this single, he exited MCA.
. Entitled I Am Ready
, this was also the first album of his career to be certified gold for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States. Singles from it included "Leave Him Out of This", "The Tips of My Fingers" (a cover of Bill Anderson's 1960 single), "A Woman Loves", "Crash Course in the Blues" and "Like a River to the Sea". These first three singles were all Top Ten hits. In 1992, Wariner received his first Grammy Award
, for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, as a guest vocalist and guitarist alongside Vince Gill
, Ricky Skaggs
and fiddler Mark O'Connor
on the single "Restless", a #25-peaking single from O'Connor's album The New Nashville Cats
. He also collaborated with O'Connor on the #71-peaking "Now It Belongs to You" on the same album.
His second album for Arista was 1993's Drive
. Leading off this album was the Top Ten "If I Didn't Love You". After it came the Top 30 hits "Drivin' and Cryin'" and "It Won't Be Over You", although the album's title track stopped at #63. Wariner, along with Lee Roy Parnell
and Diamond Rio
, recorded a cover of Merle Haggard
's "Workin' Man's Blues
" as the fictional band Jed Zeppelin for the late-1994 tribute album Mama's Hungry Eyes. This cover peaked at #48 and was made into a music video
. A year later, Wariner contributed a cover of the song "Get Back
" to Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles
, a tribute album which included country music covers of songs by The Beatles
. His rendition charted at #72 on the country charts.
An instrumental album, No More Mr. Nice Guy
followed in 1996. His final Arista release, it produced no singles, although one of the tracks, "Brickyard Boogie", was nominated for Best Country Instrumental at the 1997 Grammy Awards. This track was a collaboration with Bryan White
, Jeffrey Steele
, Bryan Austin
and former Pearl River
guitarist Derek George. Despite exiting Arista in 1997, Wariner made a guest appearance along with Mac McAnally in the music video for Sawyer Brown
's 1997 single "This Night Won't Last Forever", a cover of the Michael Johnson
song.
" for Garth Brooks
(a song on which Wariner also sang backup vocals and played guitar) and "Nothin' but the Taillights
" for Clint Black
, as well as Bryan White
's #15 "One Small Miracle". He also sang duet vocals on Anita Cochran
's single "What If I Said
", from her Warner Bros. Records
debut album Back to You
. This song became a Number One in early 1998. Several radio stations in the United States began to play the singles that Wariner co-wrote along with the Cochran duet in special airplay blocks. The success of these songs led to him signing with Capitol Records
Nashville in 1998. Leading off his Capitol releases was the #2 single "Holes in the Floor of Heaven", the first of four releases from the album Burnin' the Roadhouse Down
. This album, his second to be certified gold, produced three more singles: the title track (a duet with Brooks) at #26, "Road Trippin'" at #55 and "Every Little Whisper" at #36. Also in 1998, "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" earned Wariner his first Country Music Association
awards, winning both Single of the Year and Song of the Year. Burnin' the Roadhouse Down was also his highest peak on Top Country Albums, at #6.
Wariner's second album for Capitol was entitled Two Teardrops
. Released in 1999, it was certified gold as well. It produced only two singles: its title track, which Wariner co-wrote with Bill Anderson, and a re-recording of "I'm Already Taken". Respectively, these singles reached #2 and #3 on the country charts. Like Burnin' the Roadhouse Down before it, Two Teardrops peaked at #6 on the country albums charts.
He reached Top Ten on the country charts for the last time in early 2000, duetting with Clint Black on the song "Been There
" (which the two also co-wrote), the second single from Black's 1999 album D'lectrified
. Also that year, Wariner won his second Grammy Award, this time for Best Country Instrumental as a guest musician on the Asleep at the Wheel
song "Bob's Breakdown". Following "Been There" was the #28 "Faith in You", the first release from Wariner's 2000 album of the same name. After this album's only other single — the #22 "Katie Wants a Fast One", another duet with Brooks — Wariner exited Capitol. He continued to write, and in 2001 Keith Urban
charted in the Top Five with "Where the Blacktop Ends
", which Wariner co-wrote with Allen Shamblin
.
's 2008 album Play
. Wariner also co-wrote and played guitar on the track "More Than Just This Song" from this same album. In 2009 Wariner released a tribute to his mentor Chet Atkins
entitled My Tribute to Chet Atkins, which led to his 4th Grammy award in 2010, for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Producer's Medley." In 2011 he released Guitar Laboratory, an eclectic, all-instrumental collection exploring classical, country, jazz, blues, rock, and Hawaiian sounds.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer, songwriter and guitarist. He has released eighteen studio albums, including six on MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
, and three each on RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
and Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. He has also charted more than fifty singles on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country singles charts, including ten Number One hits: "All Roads Lead to You
All Roads Lead to You
"All Roads Lead to You" is a 1981 single by Steve Wariner. "All Roads Lead to You" was Steve Wariner's third country hit and the first of nine number one country singles. The single stayed at number one for one week and spent a total of twelve weeks on the chart .-Chart performance:-References:...
", "Some Fools Never Learn
Some Fools Never Learn
"Some Fools Never Learn" is a 1985 single written by John Scott Sherrill and recorded by Steve Wariner. "Some Fools Never Learn" was Steve Wariner's second number one on the country chart. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of twenty-two weeks on the chart.-Chart...
", "You Can Dream of Me
You Can Dream of Me
"You Can Dream of Me" is a 1986 single by Steve Wariner, who co-wrote the song with John Hall. "You Can Dream of Me" would be Steve Wariner's third number one on the country chart. The single stayed at number one for a single week and spent a total of twenty-two weeks on the country chart.-Chart...
", "Life's Highway
Life's Highway (song)
"Life's Highway" is a song recorded by country music artist Steve Wariner and was his fourth number-one hit on the country chart . It was the second single from his 1986 album of the same name and was a #2 hit in Canada.-Chart performance:...
", "Small Town Girl
Small Town Girl (Steve Wariner song)
"Small Town Girl" is a 1987 single written by John Barlow Jarvis and Don Cook and recorded by Steve Wariner. "Small Town Girl" was Steve Wariner's fifth number one country single. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of 24 weeks on the chart.-Chart performance:...
", "The Weekend
The Weekend (Steve Wariner song)
"The Weekend" is a song recorded by country music artist Steve Wariner. It is the second single from his 1987 album It's a Crazy World. It was a number-one hit in both the United States and Canada, spending twenty-three weeks on Hot Country Singles....
", "Lynda
Lynda (Steve Wariner song)
"Lynda" is a 1987 single written by Bill LaBounty and Pat McLaughlin and recorded by Steve Wariner. "Lynda" was Steve Wariner's seventh number one single. The single went to number one for one week and spent a total of twenty-three weeks on the chart....
", "Where Did I Go Wrong
Where Did I Go Wrong
"Where Did I Go Wrong" is a 1989 song written and recorded by Steve Wariner. It was Wariner's eighth number-one country single, spending one week at the top of the chart during a fourteen week chart run.-Chart performance:...
", and "I Got Dreams
I Got Dreams (song)
"I Got Dreams" is the title track to Steve Wariner's 1989 album. "I Got Dreams" was written by Steve Wariner and Bill LaBounty and was the ninth and final number one on the country chart for Steve Wariner as a solo artist...
", and "What If I Said
What If I Said
"What If I Said" is the title of a song recorded as a duet by American country music artists Anita Cochran and Steve Wariner. The single was Cochran's only Number One single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, as well as her only Top 40 single on that chart...
", a duet with Anita Cochran
Anita Cochran
Anita Renee Cockerham , known professionally as Anita Cochran, is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1997, she made her debut on the U.S. country charts that year with the release of her first album Back to You...
from her album Back to You
Back to You (album)
Back to You is the debut album by American country music artist Anita Cochran. It was released in 1997 by Warner Bros. Records and peaked at #24 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart...
. Three of his studio albums have been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States.
In addition to writing or co-writing most of his own songs, Wariner holds several writing credits for other artists, including Number One hits for Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...
and Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
, as well as singles for Bryan White
Bryan White
Bryan White is an American country music artist. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's Between Now and Forever, were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and 1997's The...
and Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
. Other artists with whom he has worked include Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson was an American pop singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young, as well as her 1978 cover of Young's "Lotta Love". The song, her debut single, was a Number One Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks hit and #8 pop hit that year...
, Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
, Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
, Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
and Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
. Wariner has also won four Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
s: one for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, and three for Best Country Instrumental, the most recent in 2010 for "Producer's Medley" from the album Steve Wariner, c.g.p., My Tribute to Chet Atkins. Steve Wariner was one of only four guitar players in the world to be given the "Certified Guitar Player" (CGP) award by Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
(five including Atkins himself).
Wariner became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1996. He was inducted into the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville in 2008, and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame in 2011.
Early life
Steven Noel Wariner was born in Noblesville, IndianaNoblesville, Indiana
Noblesville is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Indiana, United States, located just north of Indianapolis. The population was 51,969 at the 2010 census making it the 14th largest city/town in the state, up from 19th in 2007...
, on December 25, 1954. Influenced at an early age by George Jones
George Jones
George Glenn Jones is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette....
and Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, Wariner started performing in his father's band, and later moved on to playing in local clubs. By age 17, he had been hired by Dottie West
Dottie West
Dottie West was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and co-recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most influential and groundbreaking female artists...
as a bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
ist, and played on her single "Country Sunshine". He also worked with Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
, whom he has cited as a major influence on his work. After his stint with Dottie West, Steve Wariner toured playing bass for Grand Ole Opry star Bob Luman
Bob Luman
Bob Luman was an American country and rockabilly singer.-Early life and career:...
, and it was during this period that he was signed to RCA records by Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
.
RCA Records
Wariner's first recording contract came in 1976, when he signed to RCA RecordsRCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
. His first single release for the label, "I'm Already Taken", peaked at #63 and was later recorded by Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty , born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B, and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act with 55 No. 1 Billboard country hits until George Strait broke the record in 2006...
. Following it were five non-album singles, one of which ("The Easy Part's Over") fell one space short of Top 40 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country charts. His first Top 40 hit, "Your Memory", came in late 1980 and peaked at #7. It was the first of six singles from his self-titled debut album, which also produced the #6 "By Now" and his first Number One, 1981's "All Roads Lead to You". Wariner's debut earned favorable comparisons to Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
for the low tuning of his guitar.
His second album for RCA, 1983's Midnight Fire, accounted for five singles. The lead single "Don't Your Memory Ever Sleep at Night" peaked at #23 , while the next two singles became Top Five hits (the title track and "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers"). The final single fell short of Top 40, however. After this he exited RCA's roster and signed with MCA. RCA released a Greatest Hits package in 1985, promoted with the single "When We're Together." Since it was competing with his new singles on MCA, it didn't garner much attention and failed to chart. A year later, the label issued Down in Tennessee, which he had originally recorded for them in 1978 and which included "I'm Already Taken". To promote this album, RCA released the single "You Make It Feel So Right." This was a newly remixed version of the song, which was now a duet with Carol Chase. (The track had appeared on the previous year's Greatest Hits as a solo recording.) However, as with the previous RCA release, this single faced competition from his new MCA recordings, and also failed to chart.
MCA Records
When Wariner signed to MCA RecordsMCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
in 1984, he began a string of consecutive Top Ten hits that lasted into the 1990s. The first of these was the #3 "What I Didn't Do", the first of three singles from his 1984 album One Good Night Deserves Another. Following it were the #8 "Heart Trouble" and his second Number One, "Some Fools Never Learn". He also collaborated with pop singer Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson
Nicolette Larson was an American pop singer. She is perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young, as well as her 1978 cover of Young's "Lotta Love". The song, her debut single, was a Number One Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks hit and #8 pop hit that year...
on her Top Ten country hit "That's How You Know When Love's Right", her only Top 40 country single. It was also during this time that Steve recorded the theme song for the ABC television sitcom, Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss?
Who's the Boss? is an American sitcom created by Martin Cohan and Blake Hunter, which aired on ABC from September 20, 1984 to April 25, 1992...
. Wariner's version of "Brand New Life", used from 1986 to 1990, is the most widely recognized rendition of the song.
His next album, Life's Highway, accounted for two consecutive Number Ones in "You Can Dream of Me" and the title track, while all three singles from the next album (1987's It's a Crazy World
It's a Crazy World
It's a Crazy World is an album released by country music artist Steve Wariner. It was released in 1987 by MCA Nashville. Three singles were released from it, and all three reached number-one...
) went to Number One as well: "Small Town Girl", "The Weekend" and "Lynda". Wariner also sang duet vocals on Glen Campbell's 1987 single "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle".
I Should Be with You
I Should Be with You
I Should Be with You is the title of an album by American country music artist Steve Wariner. It was released on March 7, 1988 via MCA Records. It includes the singles "Baby I'm Yours", "I Should Be With You" and "Hold On ", which reached #2, #2, and #6, respectively, on the Billboard country charts...
was Wariner's fourth release for MCA. Although none of its singles went to Number One, the album accounted for consecutive #2s in "Baby I'm Yours" and its title track. 1989's I Got Dreams
I Got Dreams
I Got Dreams is the title of an album by American country music artist Steve Wariner. It was released in 1989 via MCA Records. The album includes "Where Did I Go Wrong", "I Got Dreams" and "When I Could Come Home to You"...
produced the chart-toppers "Where Did I Go Wrong" and its title track, and by the end of the decade, Wariner had eight Number Ones on the country singles charts.
Laredo
Laredo (album)
Laredo is the title of the ninth studio album released by American country music artist Steve Wariner. His last release for MCA Records, it produced three chart singles on the Billboard country charts: "The Domino Theory" at #7, "Precious Thing" at #8, and "There for Awhile" at #17. After the final...
, released in 1990, was his final release for MCA. Lead-off single "The Domino Theory" peaked at #7, followed by the Mac McAnally
Mac McAnally
Lyman Corbitt "Mac" McAnally, Jr. is an American country music singer-songwriter, session musician and record producer. In his career, he has recorded ten studio albums and eight singles. Two of his singles were hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and six more on the Hot Country Songs charts...
co-write "Precious Thing" at #8 and "There for Awhile" at #17, his first single since 1984 not to reach Top Ten. After this single, he exited MCA.
Arista Records
1991 saw the release of Wariner's first album for Arista RecordsArista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
. Entitled I Am Ready
I Am Ready
I Am Ready is American country music artist Steve Wariner's tenth full-length album. It was released in 1991 on Arista Records as his first for the label, following his departure from MCA Records...
, this was also the first album of his career to be certified gold for shipping 500,000 copies in the United States. Singles from it included "Leave Him Out of This", "The Tips of My Fingers" (a cover of Bill Anderson's 1960 single), "A Woman Loves", "Crash Course in the Blues" and "Like a River to the Sea". These first three singles were all Top Ten hits. In 1992, Wariner received his first Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, for Best Country Vocal Collaboration, as a guest vocalist and guitarist alongside Vince Gill
Vince Gill
Vincent Grant "Vince" Gill is an American neotraditional country singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He has achieved commercial success and fame both as frontman to the country rock band Pure Prairie League in the 1970s, and as a solo artist beginning in 1983, where his talents as a...
, Ricky Skaggs
Ricky Skaggs
Rickie Lee "Ricky" Skaggs is a country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, and banjo.-Early career:...
and fiddler Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
on the single "Restless", a #25-peaking single from O'Connor's album The New Nashville Cats
The New Nashville Cats
The New Nashville Cats is a country album by Mark O'Connor, in conjunction with a variety of other musical artists. O'Connor selected a group of over fifty Nashville musicians, many of who had worked with him as session musicians. The album was intended to "showcase the instrumental side of the...
. He also collaborated with O'Connor on the #71-peaking "Now It Belongs to You" on the same album.
His second album for Arista was 1993's Drive
Drive (Steve Wariner album)
Drive is the title of a studio album released in 1993 by American country music artist Steve Wariner. It was his second release for the Arista Nashville label...
. Leading off this album was the Top Ten "If I Didn't Love You". After it came the Top 30 hits "Drivin' and Cryin'" and "It Won't Be Over You", although the album's title track stopped at #63. Wariner, along with Lee Roy Parnell
Lee Roy Parnell
Lee Roy Parnell is an American country music artist. Active since 1990, he has recorded eight studio albums, and has charted more than twenty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts...
and Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio
Diamond Rio is an American Country music/Christian music band formed in 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee. Since its foundation, the group has comprised the same six members: Gene Johnson , Jimmy Olander , Brian Prout , Marty Roe , Dan Truman , and Dana Williams...
, recorded a cover of Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
's "Workin' Man's Blues
Workin' Man's Blues
"Workin' Man Blues" is an American country music song performed by its writer, Merle Haggard. Released in 1969, the song was released during his early peak and became one of several signature songs during his career.-Background:...
" as the fictional band Jed Zeppelin for the late-1994 tribute album Mama's Hungry Eyes. This cover peaked at #48 and was made into a music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
. A year later, Wariner contributed a cover of the song "Get Back
Get Back
"Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, composed by Paul McCartney and frequently attributed to Lennon–McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969, and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be ,...
" to Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles
Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles
Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles is a tribute album to The Beatles. Released in 1995 on Liberty Records, the album features covers of various Beatles songs, as performed by country music artists. The album cover features artwork by John Lennon.-Track listing:-Chart performance:...
, a tribute album which included country music covers of songs by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. His rendition charted at #72 on the country charts.
An instrumental album, No More Mr. Nice Guy
No More Mr. Nice Guy (Steve Wariner album)
No More Mr. Nice Guy is the title of an instrumental album released in 1996 by American country music artist Steve Wariner. His final album for Arista Nashville, it comprises twelve instrumental tracks. No singles were released from it, although "The Brickyard Boogie" was nominated for Best Country...
followed in 1996. His final Arista release, it produced no singles, although one of the tracks, "Brickyard Boogie", was nominated for Best Country Instrumental at the 1997 Grammy Awards. This track was a collaboration with Bryan White
Bryan White
Bryan White is an American country music artist. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's Between Now and Forever, were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and 1997's The...
, Jeffrey Steele
Jeffrey Steele
Jeffrey LeVasseur is an American country music singer and songwriter, more commonly known by the name Jeffrey Steele...
, Bryan Austin
Bryan Austin
-Track listing:#"Radio Active" – 3:20#"You're Right, I'm Wrong" – 2:44#"That's What She Said" – 3:45#"Is It Just Me" – 3:55...
and former Pearl River
Pearl River (band)
-Track listing:#"I Wanna Be in the Picture" - 2:46#"Hole Where the Heart Oughta Be" - 3:00#"Does She Need Me" - 3:09...
guitarist Derek George. Despite exiting Arista in 1997, Wariner made a guest appearance along with Mac McAnally in the music video for Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown
Sawyer Brown is an American country music band founded in 1981 in Apopka, Florida, by five members of country pop singer Don King's road band: Bobby Randall and Jim Scholten , both from Midland, Michigan; Joe Smyth , Gregg "Hobie" Hubbard , and Mark Miller...
's 1997 single "This Night Won't Last Forever", a cover of the Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson (singer)
Michael Johnson , is an American pop, country and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1978 hit song "Bluer Than Blue". To date, he has charted four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and nine more on the Hot Country Songs charts, including two Number One country hits...
song.
Capitol Records
Although he was not signed to a recording contract since 1996, Wariner had found success as a songwriter in Nashville, including several singles between late 1997 and early 1998. Among these were the Number One hits "Longneck BottleLongneck Bottle
"Longneck Bottle" is a single by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was the first single from his 1997 album Sevens. "Longneck Bottle" was co-written by Steve Wariner, who also plays acoustic guitar and sings background vocals on the song....
" for Garth Brooks
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...
(a song on which Wariner also sang backup vocals and played guitar) and "Nothin' but the Taillights
Nothin' but the Taillights (song)
"Nothin' but The Taillights" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Clint Black. The song reached the top of the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. It was the third single released from his album of the same name.-Content:The song is an uptempo,...
" for Clint Black
Clint Black
Clint Patrick Black is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer, multi-instrumentalist and occasional actor. Signed to RCA Records in 1989, Black made his debut with his Killin' Time album, which produced four straight Number One singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country...
, as well as Bryan White
Bryan White
Bryan White is an American country music artist. Signed to Asylum Records in 1994 at age 20, White released his self-titled debut album that year. Both it and its follow-up, 1996's Between Now and Forever, were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and 1997's The...
's #15 "One Small Miracle". He also sang duet vocals on Anita Cochran
Anita Cochran
Anita Renee Cockerham , known professionally as Anita Cochran, is an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1997, she made her debut on the U.S. country charts that year with the release of her first album Back to You...
's single "What If I Said
What If I Said
"What If I Said" is the title of a song recorded as a duet by American country music artists Anita Cochran and Steve Wariner. The single was Cochran's only Number One single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, as well as her only Top 40 single on that chart...
", from her Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
debut album Back to You
Back to You (album)
Back to You is the debut album by American country music artist Anita Cochran. It was released in 1997 by Warner Bros. Records and peaked at #24 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart...
. This song became a Number One in early 1998. Several radio stations in the United States began to play the singles that Wariner co-wrote along with the Cochran duet in special airplay blocks. The success of these songs led to him signing with Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
Nashville in 1998. Leading off his Capitol releases was the #2 single "Holes in the Floor of Heaven", the first of four releases from the album Burnin' the Roadhouse Down
Burnin' the Roadhouse Down
Burnin' the Roadhouse Down is the title of an album released in 1998 by American country music artist Steve Wariner. It was the first of three albums that he recorded for the Capitol Records Nashville label after having been dropped from Arista Records' roster in 1996. It was the second album of...
. This album, his second to be certified gold, produced three more singles: the title track (a duet with Brooks) at #26, "Road Trippin'" at #55 and "Every Little Whisper" at #36. Also in 1998, "Holes in the Floor of Heaven" earned Wariner his first Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
awards, winning both Single of the Year and Song of the Year. Burnin' the Roadhouse Down was also his highest peak on Top Country Albums, at #6.
Wariner's second album for Capitol was entitled Two Teardrops
Two Teardrops
Two Teardrops is the fifteenth album of country music singer Steve Wariner. Released in 1999, it was his second studio album for Capitol Records Nashville. The album, which was certified gold in the United States, produced two singles for Wariner on the Billboard country charts in 1999: "I'm...
. Released in 1999, it was certified gold as well. It produced only two singles: its title track, which Wariner co-wrote with Bill Anderson, and a re-recording of "I'm Already Taken". Respectively, these singles reached #2 and #3 on the country charts. Like Burnin' the Roadhouse Down before it, Two Teardrops peaked at #6 on the country albums charts.
He reached Top Ten on the country charts for the last time in early 2000, duetting with Clint Black on the song "Been There
Been There
"Been There" is a single co-written and recorded by American country music singers Clint Black and Steve Wariner that peaked at number 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in 2000...
" (which the two also co-wrote), the second single from Black's 1999 album D'lectrified
D'lectrified
D'lectrified is a 1999 album by country singer Clint Black. It is also the first album in Black's career that he produced by himself....
. Also that year, Wariner won his second Grammy Award, this time for Best Country Instrumental as a guest musician on the Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel
Asleep at the Wheel is a American country music group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, but based in Austin, Texas. Altogether, they have won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception. In their career, they have released more than twenty studio albums, and have charted more than twenty...
song "Bob's Breakdown". Following "Been There" was the #28 "Faith in You", the first release from Wariner's 2000 album of the same name. After this album's only other single — the #22 "Katie Wants a Fast One", another duet with Brooks — Wariner exited Capitol. He continued to write, and in 2001 Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
charted in the Top Five with "Where the Blacktop Ends
Where the Blacktop Ends
"Where the Blacktop Ends" is the title of a song written by Allen Shamblin and Steve Wariner, and recorded by country music singer Keith Urban. It was released in April 2001 as the last single from Urban's self-titled album and the third Top Five single of his career, reaching a peak of #3 on the...
", which Wariner co-wrote with Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin
Allen Shamblin is a country music songwriter who was born in Tennessee, and was brought up in Texas.After graduating from Sam Houston State University he worked in Austin as a real estate appraiser. In 1987, he quit his job and moved to Nashville to pursue a career as a song writer. He supported...
.
2003-present
Wariner formed his own label in 2003, called Selectone Records. His first album for this label, Steal Another Day, accounted for low-charting singles in "I'm Your Man" and "Snowfall on the Sand", both of which peaked in the fifties on the country singles charts. Another album for Selectone, 2005's The Real Life, produced no singles. In 2008, Wariner won his second Grammy for Best Country Instrumental, and third Grammy overall, as one of several guitarists featured on the track "Cluster Pluck" from Brad PaisleyBrad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
's 2008 album Play
Play (Brad Paisley album)
Play, also known as Play: The Guitar Album, is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Brad Paisley. It was released on November 4, 2008 . Like all of his previous albums, Play was released on Arista Nashville and produced by Frank Rogers. The album is largely instrumental in...
. Wariner also co-wrote and played guitar on the track "More Than Just This Song" from this same album. In 2009 Wariner released a tribute to his mentor Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
entitled My Tribute to Chet Atkins, which led to his 4th Grammy award in 2010, for Best Country Instrumental Performance for "Producer's Medley." In 2011 he released Guitar Laboratory, an eclectic, all-instrumental collection exploring classical, country, jazz, blues, rock, and Hawaiian sounds.