Steve Azar may be one of the more prolific one-hit wonders in country music. Born in Greenville, Mississippi, he honed his craft in the Magnolia State's blues-y climate from an early age. After years of touring throughout the South, including at least one show where a then-unknown Faith Hill was in the front row, Azar got his first record deal in the mid-90s.
I was one of the few people who actually bought Azar's 1996 debut, Heartbreak Town. Its two singles, "I Never Stopped Loving You" and "Someday," were extremely solid songs, although they really seemed to lack that "it" factor to stand out. One wonders if the tougher "As Long as Harley Gets to Play" or the captivating car-crash story "Thunderbird" would've been more successful singles, or if they would have stalled in the 50s like the few other releases River North Nashville was able to get onto the charts.
After being absent from radio for six years, he moved to Mercury Records in 2002, to release Waitin' on Joe under the production of songwriter Rafe VanHoy ("Golden Ring"). The album was led off by his only major hit, "I Don't Have to Be Me ('Til Monday)." This song has an identifiable premise: who hasn't wanted to call in a sick day now and then just because you feel like it? With Azar's slightly grained voice, the muscular production, and catchy melody, "Monday" had the goods to please radio PDs and the artistry to catch attention.
On the other hand, it came out mere weeks after 9/11, placing it in stark contrast to the musical climate of the time. The patriotic songs had already begun zooming up the charts — even a re-release of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" saw some chart action — but everything else slowed to a total crawl. ("Monday" alone took 34 weeks to peak!) The week "Monday" hit Top 40, almost nothing underneath it turned out to be a future Top 40 hit; indeed, the most successful song below it at the time was Emerson Drive's "I Should Be Sleeping." "Monday" peaked at #2 on the June 1, 2002 charts, landing it squarely between Alan Jackson's "Drive (For Daddy Gene)" and George Strait's "Living and Living Well." (Coincidentally, "Drive" had blocked Tommy Shane Steiner's only Top 40, "What If She's an Angel," just the previous week.)
The album made only one other notch in the charts with its exceptional title track: a story song about a brother who is always running late. (I won't spoil the twist.) Throughout 2003, Azar kept his name out there by touring as hard as he could. (I actually saw him in Alpena, Michigan in July 2003, and I remember him putting on a very raucous show.) He also started work on a second Mercury album with James Stroud as producer, but had to step aside in 2004 after the excessive touring caused him to develop a vocal cord lesion which required surgery.
Azar finally returned to the charts in June 2005 with "Doin' It Right." Unfortunately, the line "Been doin' it wrong for so long / I sure wanna know what it finally feels like / To be doin' it, doin' it, doin' it / Doin' it right" failed to be prophetic, as the energetic and funky song failed to reach Top 40. His last Mercury release was a silly yet tasty mix of Delta blues and Christmas music called "Catfish Christmas." The independent Midas Records Nashville soon picked him up, but not even they could get anything out of him other than the #47 "You Don't Know a Thing." (Apparently Radney Foster songs are too cereberal for radio. Shame.) His tenure at Midas was short-lived, though he at least hung around long enough to tour with Bob Seger. "Thing" carried over to the self-released Indianaola(2008). Surprisingly, "You're My Life" from the album managed to get to #52.
Azar refined his indie team into another label, Ride Records, in 2009. That Delta sound was in full force on the loose, entertaining "Moo La Moo," a comedic look at being broke. (Boy, can I identify with that.) After that came the beautiful, soulful love ballad "Sunshine (Everybody Needs a Little)," which surprised me even more as it made #27. Both of these appeared on 2009's Slide On Over Here. Follow-up Delta Soul: Volume 1 came in 2011. Given that the latter hasn't produced any singles, one would get the feeling that Azar isn't concerned with radio hits anymore. And as long as he's still out there making music, I really can't complain too much.
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