Steve Wariner Leans On Influences With New Project, All Over the Place

Artist: Steve Wariner
Album: All Over the Place
Label: SelecTone Records
Release date: Oct. 28, 2016

For his 20th studio album, four-time GRAMMY Award winner Steve Wariner wanted to create a remarkable tribute to the Grand Ole Opry member’s influences, both living and deceased, in addition to a celebration of his lineage. While packed with acclaimed guest musicians, the set — to be released Oct. 28 on SelecTone Records — artfully showcases Wariner’s own musical talents. In addition to producing the album, he plays guitar, upright bass, drums and both pedal and lap steel, as well as singing on seven of the songs. (The other five are classic instrumentals.) Wariner also penned 10 of the tracks.

A touching tribute to late mentor Chet Atkins, titled “CGP,” takes its name from the coveted title Atkins bestowed on Wariner: Certified Guitar Player. On the track, Wariner enlisted the talents of the only two other living musicians to have earned the same title from Atkins, Tommy Emmanuel and John Knowles. The album also includes “When I Still Mattered To You,” a song Wariner wrote with Merle Haggard on a cruise ship in 1996 but had never previously recorded.

Close friend Ricky Skaggs, who Wariner won his first GRAMMY with in 1992, is featured playing mandolin on “Down Sawmill Road.” Other celebrated musicians featured on the album include: Musicians’ Hall of Fame and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Duane Eddy (“Nashville Spy-Line”), GRAMMY Award winner Eric Johnson (“Meanwhile Back In Austin”), Greg Martin of The Kentucky Headhunters (“Way It Goes”) and Jack Pearson (“Drop Top”).

But it’s Wariner’s own family that provides the bulk of the inspiration for the album, which was 20 months in the making. Throughout the creation of the album, Steve relied heavily on his son Ross, who lives in New York, for advice and consultation on the technical production aspects of the album. He wrote the Western swing tune “Mr. Roy” as a tribute to his musician father, and “Down Sawmill Road” is named for the Kentucky road where his mother grew up. His GRAMMY-nominated son Ryan Wariner wrote and plays on the track “The Last Word.” Wariner reached back deep into his rich family history for the album’s closing instrumental track, “Augustine’s Dream,” inspired by his maternal four-times great grandfather who served in the Revolutionary War.

“Getting to play and record with these wonderfully creative people means the world to me. I am grateful to all! Some I've collaborated with before, others..well, it's pure bucket list for me! This project is the perfect example of what keeps me going...what keeps me excited,” notes Wariner. “Traveling into territory I've never been to before. And there's lots of that here on this album. It's hard to describe the joy I feel making music with my sons...and family for that matter. Now I know how my father used to feel. I am so very proud of my musical roots and heritage. ”