POP MUSIC REVIEWS : Overlook No Further: Steve Wariner Is Ready

Steve Wariner was presented with a birthday cake during his early set at the Crazy Horse Monday night. Actually, his birthday is Dec. 25, but because it is overlooked in the excitement of Christmas every year, KIK-FM disc jockey Craig Powers thought it would be a nice tradition to give Wariner a birthday party every time he comes to town. Now that his birthday finally has been acknowledged, could acknowledgment of Wariner’s quality as a recording artist be far behind?

Despite a consistent string of hits, including a dozen No. 1 records since he first reached the country Top 10 in 1980 with “You Memory,” Wariner has received surprisingly little recognition. He has been given two major awards, a Grammy and a Country Music Assn. award, but he got both as a member of the Nashville Cats, a super-group of country pickers assembled by fiddler Mark O’Connor.

But Wariner’s years as Nashville’s best-kept secret may be about to end. His latest album, “I Am Ready,” has produced hit single after hit single and has been one of the biggest sellers of his career, and Wariner is being referred to as “the next Vince Gill,” who himself went years before getting the credit he deserves.

In any case, Monday night during an eight-song medley of his hits from the ‘80s--including such smashes as “Heart Trouble,” “Starting Over Again” and “Lonely Women Make Good Lovers”--Wariner demonstrated that if you were tuned into country radio during the past decade, you were never far from a Steve Wariner song. And the intimate Crazy Horse provided a perfect forum for appreciating the finer points of his talent.

Because he doesn’t tie his vocal cords into knots, Wariner’s smooth singing may not be as recognizable on the radio as some of country’s neo-George Joneses’. In concert, however, all the subtle richness of Wariner’s vocals came through.

His treatment of the tender ballad “A Woman Loves” (from the “I Am Ready” album) was a model of expressive singing. With his recent hit “Leave Him Out Of This,” Wariner took his voice on an escalator ride from the basement to a high lonesome tenor within a single verse.

With the driving “Midnight Fire” and the jauntily swinging “L--o--v--e Love,” he proved that he belt out a tune as convincingly as he can caress a ballad.

Meanwhile, he was heating up nearly every song in his hour and 15 minute set with his hot guitar solos. With an intricate, rippling finger picking style he picked up from his idol Chet Atkins, Wariner ran off especially dazzling solos during such swing numbers as “Baby I’m Yours” and “The Domino Theory.” He showed his versatility as a picker with a trio of instrumentals that ranged from sizzling Western swing to Eric Clapton’s lyrical ballad “Wonderful Tonight.”

Several times during his set, Wariner traded solos with members of his six-piece band (which includes brother Terry Wariner on guitar and harmony vocals). Steel guitarist Allyn Love would play a solo, and Wariner would answer with his guitar as though the two instruments were holding a conversation.