Steve Azar

Former River North executive Michael Powers had begun working at Mercury Records' Nashville division at the beginning of the 21st century and had recommended Azar to executives of that label. While they initially turned him down, Azar was eventually signed in 2001 after a successful songwriting session with Rafe Van Hoy led to songs that both Azar and Mercury executives felt represented his artistic style.[14][7] His first Mercury single was "I Don't Have to Be Me ('til Monday)", which spent forty-four weeks on the Hot Country Songs charts between 2001 and 2002 and peaked at number two. It also accounted for his only entry on the Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number thirty-five.[2] The song was the lead single to Azar's 2002 album Waitin' on Joe. Van Hoy produced the album, and Azar wrote or co-wrote every song; they both also contributed musically, as did blues guitarist Sonny Landreth.[8][5][7] Also charting on Hot Country Songs in 2002, title track "Waitin' on Joe" was the disc's only other single.[2] Azar stated that he had no intention of including "Waitin' on Joe" on the album until his brother Joe Azar Jr., who was also his manager at the time, submitted it to the label.[5][3] Both songs were also made into music videos; the latter's was filmed in Clarksdale, Mississippi and featured an appearance by Morgan Freeman.[13] Country Standard Time reviewer Jeffrey B. Remz called the album's production "a bit bright and polished", but praised Azar's songwriting and singing, particularly on the title track.[15]

Azar toured extensively throughout 2002 and 2003 to promote Waitin' on Joe, averaging 250 shows per year.[13] This extensive schedule led to him developing a cyst on his vocal cords, which was surgically removed in 2004.[16][6] Also that year, "I Don't Have to Be Me" received a Million-Air Award from Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) which commemorated the song for being played one million times on radio; Azar shared this award with the song's co-writers, Jason Young and R. C. Bannon.[17] His final single for Mercury was "Doin' It Right", which was released in mid-2005 but fell short of top 40 on Hot Country Songs.[2] Following this single's underperformance, Azar amicably ended his contract with Mercury.[18]

In 2006, Azar founded his own label called Dang Records. Over the next two years he began working on his next studio album; for this project, he served as producer and audio engineer, also playing acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, and mandolin.[18] In February 2006, Azar announced that Dang Records had partnered with Midas Records Nashville for the distribution of the album.[19] He charted the Radney Foster co-write "You Don't Know a Thing" while on Midas;[2] the song also received a music video which featured an appearance by golfer John Daly.[20] For much of 2006 and 2007, Azar toured with Bob Seger.[21]

Azar experienced delays in releasing his material while on Midas, citing both creative differences and the label's inexperience.[22] This led to him co-founding a new label called Ride Records in April 2008, on which he finally released Indianola that same year.[23][24] While his first Ride single "I Won't Let You Lead Me Down" failed to chart,[23][2] his next single "You're My Life" reached number 52 on Hot Country Songs in 2009.[2] At the time of the album's release, Azar said that many of the songs from the project grew from songwriting sessions with Foster and James House, and that he wanted to form an independent label so that he could have control over aspects such as sales and promotion. He, House, and John Brannen promoted the album through performances at Nashville's Bluebird Café in late 2008.[25] Ken Tucker of Billboard found influences of country, blues, and rock in the production and songwriting choices, variously comparing tracks to Seger, Jackson Browne, and the Traveling Wilburys.[26] Ben Scott of The Oklahoman called the album "a nice mix of bluesy, contemporary rock with country influences".[27]

One year later, Azar released another album on Ride Records entitled Slide On Over Here. Once again, Azar wrote or co-wrote every song. He told CMT at the time of the album's release that Seger was one of the primary influences in his songwriting: "he’s pretty much the entire gamut of emotions and I felt like I was leaving some of them in the drawer. So, I pulled them out for this record."[28] Azar co-produced the album with Justin Niebank, while both House and Josh Kelley co-wrote some of the songs and provided backing vocals.[29] Two of the album's singles, "Moo La Moo" and "Sunshine (Everybody Needs a Little)", both made top 40 on Hot Country Songs.[2] Giving the album four stars out of five, Country Weekly critic Chris Neal called it a "pitch-perfect progression" from Indianola.[30] Azar's next album was Delta Soul, Volume One in 2011. This album features four original songs and five re-recordings of previously-released material. James House also contributed backing vocals. Matt Bjorke of Roughstock reviewed the album favorably, noting Azar's vocal performance along with the inclusion of slide guitar and Hammond organ in the production.[31] This album's re-recording of "Doin' It Right" later appeared on the soundtrack of the 2012 Kevin James film Here Comes the Boom.[32]

Azar recorded a number of promotional singles throughout the 2010s. The first of these was 2012's "American Farmer", which the National FFA Organization sold at conventions.[33] In 2015, Azar collaborated with Sophie Young to record the song "The Sky Is Falling (Patti Jo's Prayer)", which deals with the subject of human trafficking. A high school senior in Portland, Maine heard the song and assembled a music video through the assistance of police detective Sgt. Steve Webster, a friend of Azar's. The music video was released on YouTube and its proceeds were donated to Not Here Justice in Action Network, a non-profit dedicated to the cause.[34] Finally in 2017, he recorded a television commercial jingle for McDonald's to promote their all-day breakfast menu.[35]

Also in 2017, he assembled a number of musicians who had backed B. B. King and Elvis Presley to create a Delta blues project known as Steve Azar and the King's Men. This aggregation released the album Down at the Liquor Store in August 2017, which was accompanied by a making-of documentary titled Something in the Water filmed by Azar's son Strack. It was recorded at Club Ebony, a part of B. B. King's museum in Indianola, Mississippi.[36] Markos Papadatos of Digital Journal called the collection a "sultry album", also stating that "One can hear Azar's heart on this record".[37]