Not just a country boy
But Steve Azar is part of the Country Music Christmas Tour, coming Sunday to the Embassy
Steve Azar may have gotten his big break as a musician in Nashville, but you won’t get away with labeling him as a country artist.
His heart belongs at home in the Mississippi Delta, the inspiration for his soon-to-be-released new CD, “Indianola.”
Azar and four other “country” acts will be at the Embassy Theatre on Sunday as part of Great American Country’s Country Music Christmas Tour.
He doesn’t reject the country label — however, “when you say the word ‘country,’ it’s that and a lot more,” Azar said, speaking by cell phone from Cape Girardeau, Mo., one of the stops on the tour. “The truth is I’m just much more Delta rock blues.”
Azar hails from the small town of Greenville, Miss., which bills itself as the heart and soul of the Delta — renowned for its rich fertile soil and as the home of one of the earliest styles of blues music.
“Indianola” is a fusion of his years in Nashville and the years he spent growing up in the Delta, Azar said. The CD is named after a Mississippi Delta town not far from Greenville.
Azar started writing songs when he was 10. At 14, his parents took him to Nashville and paid for a studio to record some of them.
His parents may have encouraged his musical career, but they also insisted he go to college, so he did — at the same time performing in Delta clubs with the Steve Azar band. By the time he graduated, his band had grown into a regional headliner in the South.
In 1991, he moved to Nashville and 10 years later released the CD “Waitin’ on Joe.” Its breakout single, “I Don’t Have to Be Me (’Til Monday)” has been played almost 3 million times on the radio to date.
Vocal problems in 2003, followed by surgery in 2004, forced a pause in his career.
In 2005, he started work on “Indianola,” but scrapped the sessions that were recorded with another producer and ended up producing the record on his own. “Indianola” is a joint venture between Azar’s Dang Records and the newly launched Midas Records.
His three children had a role in his decision to produce “Indianola” on his own. The final straw, he said, was that the kids preferred the music he made in his own home studio to what he was recording with the other producer.
“I’d have to convince even my kids to like it,” he said.
The advantage to producing his own record was that he could use his road musicians — who “get me,” he said — rather than the Nashville session musicians he would have been forced to use otherwise.
A single from “Indianola” — “You Don’t Know a Thing” — already has been released, with golf pro John Daly, a friend of Azar’s, appearing in the video.
Azar will perform that single in Fort Wayne, along with “I Don’t Have to be Me (’Til Monday),” as well as some of his favorite holiday classics.
He’s also written a holiday song of his own, “Catfish Christmas,” a festive, fun tune that pays homage to his Delta roots.
Before the country Christmas tour, Azar was touring with legendary Detroit rocker Bob Seger, and the two pair up again for four performances later this month in Detroit. He’s also going to tour next year with Seger.
“Bob’s one of my musical heroes,” Azar said. “I looked up to him growing up as a songwriter and entertainer.”
It may sound like an unlikely match, but Azar said he and Seger have more in common than first appearances suggest. Referring to Detroit, Azar said, “It’s a very soulful area, where (Seger’s) music came from, and so was the Delta.”
Azar is thrilled to be on Seger’s tour. “It’s an affirmation that all those years of work has been starting to pay off.”
Also on the GAC Country Christmas tour:
♦A breakout star of the late ’90s, Deana Carter’s best known for the teen coming-of-age song “Strawberry Wine” — a single off what is surely one of the most memorable album titles ever: “Did I Shave My Legs for This?” Carter also recorded a collection of traditional Christmas songs in 2001 titled “Father Christmas.”
♦What do men and mascara have in common? They always run, at least according to a song sung by Julie (not Julia) Roberts: Her latest CD, released this year, is titled “Men and Mascara.” Roberts has been on the country music scene for a couple of years, releasing her self-titled debut CD in 2004. Its first single, “Break Down Here,” reached the mid-level of the country charts.
♦Country duo Blue County has a local connection: Aaron Benward was born in Auburn and moved to Houston and then Nashville with his family. The other half of the duo is Scott Reeves, who was born in Arkansas and raised in Los Angeles. The two teamed up after meeting on a music video in Nashville five years ago. Their self-titled 2004 debut album featured their Top 10 hit “Good Little Girls,” and the single, “That’s Cool.”
♦Bucky Covington — yeah, that Bucky Covington, the “American Idol” finalist — has joined the tour, taking the place of “Nashville Star” winner Buddy Jewell, who had to withdraw after breaking his wrist in a fall.
More information
What: GAC Country Music Christmas Tour featuring Steve Azar, Deana Carter, Julie Roberts, Blue County and Bucky Covington.
When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Embassy Theatre, 121 W. Jefferson Blvd.
Cost: $25 on sale now at the Embassy box office, open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 424-5665; all Ticketmaster locations; by phone at 424-1811; and at www.ticketmaster.com on the Web.
Hear Steve Azar
Check out Steve Azar’s Mississippi Delta-inspired sound at his Web site, www.steveazar.com.
Courtesy of FT.Wayne.com