Country great Steve Wariner to perform at Blue Gate Theatre

Sep. 17—SHIPSHEWANA — Country music legend Steve Wariner might be playing his first gig in Shipshewana, but it's not his first trip to the small town known for its Amish culture.

"I've actually been there a few times," he said. "We actually camped up there a few years ago. We RV a little bit every now and then. You'd think someone that's traveled as much as I have through the years on a bus would not want to do that. But we camped right there near Shipshewana in this cool little RV park. It was really, really nice. I like all that culture — the Amish culture, it's really, really cool."

If You Go

WHAT: Steve Wariner in concert

WHERE: Blue Gate Theatre

WHEN: Sept. 24 at 8 p.m.

TICKETS: thebluegate.com

Wariner will be performing Sept. 24 at Blue Gate Theatre. Tickets are on sale for the concert, which will start at 8 p.m. Regular seating tickets are $24.95 to $64.95. There is a package option that includes dinner, which costs between $42.95 and $82.95.

Wariner said that as he's gotten older, he's tried to keep his diet healthy — but he might break the rules while he is in Shipshewana.

"I know they have a lot of sweets and good stuff up there," he said. "... If you're going to jump off the wagon one day that might be the place."

His wife, Caryn, is a quilter and has been up to Shipshewana a couple of times to take classes, he said.

"She's very familiar," Wariner said, adding that she might come up with him this time. "It's a cool place."

As for the concert itself, fans should expect to hear many of Wariner's hits and some seriously cool guitar playing. Wariner is, after all, a "certified guitar player," an honor bestowed on him by the late Chet Atkins, and a multiple Grammy award winner, among many other honors.

Wariner's learned over the years what his fanbase enjoys hearing. He said he would play his guitar — even a complex piece that took eight months to write — "and as soon as I got done someone would go, 'Do The Weekend!' It was like, OK," he laughed. "I almost twisted my fingers playing and they don't even care. ... And then I started understanding that people wanted to hear all those old records. They want to hear the hits. And so a few years ago I said, you know if that's what they want, that's what I'm doing."

Yet he still includes a few little spots in the show that are just for him. Wariner will be bringing his new Gretsch guitar to perform with at the concert. Wariner and Gretsch teamed up to make the G6120T-SW Steve Wariner Signature Nashville Gentleman with Bigsby a couple of years ago. This guitar is more than just Wariner's name on a guitar — it's a guitar designed by Wariner to his specifications from decades of experience.

Other than that self-indulgence, he said he and his crew try to cram as many hits as they can in two hours from his more than 20 albums, 14 No. 1 hits and more than 30 Top 10 singles.

COVID & TOURING

After a year and a half off from touring because of COVID, Wariner and his crew are getting back into the swing of road life but with COVID in mind.

"We were like a bunch of kids on the bus when we loaded up," he said chuckling. "I remember we loaded up the other night going to Oklahoma and it was, good Lord, it was like a bunch of kids. We were trying to hug each other but — but no, let's not hug, but OK let's put a mask on."

Yet in seriousness, COVID is a real concern during the tour.

"We're kind of wrestling with all those protocols and what to do," he said. "We just started the tour, so. I didn't play this past weekend. The weekend before I played in Oklahoma and Texas, a date in Texas, just two days — the first shows I've done in two years. I want to get through these days. Right now we're just wrestling with how to do it. We didn't do any meet-and-greets — we didn't do any meet-and-greets at all. That's kind of what the protocol is for everybody that I'm talking to — all of my artist friends. Nobody seems to be doing any of that."

Wariner said that as much as he likes meeting his fans, it's just safer in the long run.

"We're just being really, really cautious," he said. "Everybody's vaxxed and all of that."

The show he did in Oklahoma was so strange, he said. "It was at the Choctaw Grand Theater. They were great. They had all of their protocols and we did ours."

Since there was no one-on-one audience interaction, Wariner said it felt a bid odd waving to people from afar.

"I told the people when I came out — I played about three songs — and then I spoke a moment," Wariner said. "I said, 'I got to be real honest with you guys.' I said ... the place was packed, you know, and I said, 'I got to be real honest, you guys look incredible, standing up here on stage looking at you guys. You guys look awesome. You're the first human beings I've played in front of in two years.'"

Wariner played four shows at the Opry in 2020 — all televised. Three of those, he said, were to a totally empty building — 4,400 empty seats.

"Oh my God, really, really weird," he said. "The weirdest thing maybe I've ever done musically."

The musician said there were not even people in the hallways. The only people were on stage, the stage director and a couple of camera guys.

He said they would get done with a song and then say, "'Hey, thank you guys,' and then there's nobody here."

CHRISTMAS ALBUM

"I am thrilled about this," Wariner said of a new Christmas album, "Feels Like Christmas Time," coming out Oct. 15.

It's about half old music, half new music.

He recut a couple of his favorite Christmas songs.

Wariner also wrote a few new songs. One he wrote with Jim "Moose" Brown, who plays with Bob Seger on the road and penned "It's 5 o'clock Somewhere."

"He's also one of the greatest songwriters in the world," Wariner said. "We're buddies. We've written a lot of songs together."

Together they wrote "It Won't be Christmas." The hook is "It won't be Christmas if you're not here with me."

"It's so cool," he said. "I love this song. It's the last song on the album."

A song he wrote with Bill Anderson, "Christmas in Your Arms," is on this album as well.

Plus, it's going to be a vinyl record, something he hasn't cut in about 35 years, along with digital incarnations. The insert in the vinyl not only lists the title and credits, but if you flip it over there is some artwork done by Wariner himself.

"I've painted, done art for years," he said. "So I did this cool little drawing of Santa playing a guitar. He's playing a Gretsch White Falcon actually."

Wariner said he did the drawing before designing his own guitar. Laughing, he said, "He needs to be playing MY guitar."

There will also be a golden ticket in one of the albums. Somebody will win a Gretsch guitar — not a Steve Wariner model — but still a Gretsch. It's just random, he explained. So whoever gets it wins.

"So that's going to be fun," he said.

Prior to that, there will be a shoptalklive Sept. 22. It's a live social-shopping network, where "brands, artists, celebrities and useful products" can livestream their product — music in Wariner's case.

"It's a different world now than when I was on the big labels," Wariner said. "It's funny how you sell music anymore. It's hilarious. When I was on big labels you had to sell a million — well, a half a million copies — to stay on the label."

OTHER PROJECTS

What hasn't changed is Wariner's love of creating new music.

He's writing a song for new country musician Kimberly Kelly, who Wariner said is a fantastic up-and-coming artist.

He's also working on a song with Clint Black and another one with Lee Roy Parnell.

"I like to think of myself as a word guy," Wariner said. "My antenna's always up for people saying something, you know. I'm like, 'Oh, that's good.'"

He said he's been lucky to have a lot of songs cut by great artists.

"One of the coolest ones happened just a few years ago out of the blue," Wariner said. "I always really loved Don Williams ... and I wrote a song we pitched to him 20 years ago. Daggone that man must have carried that song around with him. Because he was starting to be sick and it turned out to be his last album, and he cut our song ["The Answer"] on that album. I wrote it with Tony Arata. It just thrilled me."

Sheila Selman can be reached at sheila.selman@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240311. Follow Sheila on Twitter @sselman_TGN.