Steven Noel Wariner was born on December 25, 1954, in Noblesville, Indiana, but grew up in Russell Springs, Kentucky. As a teenager, Wariner taught himself how to play several instruments, including acoustic guitar, bass guitar, drums, banjo, and steel guitar. Wariner performed locally in his father Roy Wariner's band, drawing influence from musical acts his father listened to such as George Jones and Chet Atkins. When Wariner was 17, country singer Dottie West heard him performing at the Nashville Country Club in Indianapolis and recruited him to play bass guitar in her road band. Wariner completed his education through a correspondence course with his local high school, and went on to play in West's band for three years; he also played on her 1973 single "Country Sunshine". Wariner also began writing songs at this point, and West attempted to secure him a record label contract by submitting demos of his work, but was unsuccessful. He then left West's road band to put a greater focus on songwriting, and began touring with Bob Luman after he cut some of Wariner's songs. While in recording sessions with Luman, Wariner encountered guitarist Paul Yandell, who was also working for Atkins at the time. Yandell submitted some of Wariner's demos to Atkins, who was also vice-president of RCA Records Nashville at the time and was thus able to sign Wariner to a contract in 1976. His first single release for RCA was "I'm Already Taken", a song that Wariner co-wrote. It peaked at number 63 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts in 1978. This was followed by five more chart singles, none of which appeared on an album at the time due to their limited success. These singles were primarily covers of songs by other artists, including Charley Pride's "The Easy Part's Over". "Record World" magazine published a positive review of this cover, which stated that it was a "slow, sad ballad" in which "Wariner contnues to show a whole lotta vocal talent." Atkins also hired Wariner to be a bassist in his road band, which led to a nomination by the Academy of Country Music for Bassist of the Year in 1979. Also, Atkins served as his record producer on his first single releases, but later encouraged him to find a different one. As a result, "The Easy Part's Over" was instead produced by Tom Collins, known for also producing Ronnie Milsap and Sylvia.