A professional musician since he was a teenager, Steve Wariner is a virtuoso electric and acoustic guitarist who started out as a protege of Chet Atkins and was playing with country star Dottie West by the time he was 17. After spending quite a bit of time as a sideman, Wariner got his own record deal and began a slow, steady ascent to the top of the country music heap. He was able to capitalize on the country boom of the '90s with the triple threat of his singing, songwriting, and instrumental work, and he has rarely been away from the top of the charts since.