Interview with Jamie Warren

Country artist JAMIE WARREN lives in Kitchener-Waterloo, but was raised in Hanover Ontario, where he pursued an adolescent dream of playing hockey professionally in the NHL, with music as a background distraction. When he realized that his natural abilities for singing and playing guitar might make it easier to attract the attention of girls, he hung up his blades. It was a logical progression for a sensitive guy who wrote poetry and short stories throughout his high school years.

His interest in music was likely genetic, since his mother sang and played piano, and his father played guitar and mandolin. Jamie had piano lessons at age 5 and guitar lessons at age 8, and by the time he was 10 years old, it was traditional for the Warrens to entertain after Saturday night euchre games in their smoke-filled basement. His earliest influences were whatever his parents listened to on the radio, and the only thing his parents radio seemed to play was country music. To this day, he’s still a huge fan of Merle Haggard, Tammy Wynette and Patsy Cline. 

Eventually, he began an association with producer J. Richard Hutt, who produced “Right Here Right Now” and all of Jamie’s previous recordings, but who initially engaged Jamie as a singer for jingles he produced out of his Kitchener-based CedarTree Studios. “I didn’t have a clue what I was doing” says Jamie, “but Rick had a lot of patience”. In 1993, Jamie was convinced that both radio and Nashville might have relaxed enough to make room for him again, and he released “Fallen Angel” on River North/Mercury Records, which yielded an enduring fan favourite and radio hit, “One Step Back”. There were many more hits to follow for this talented Canadian artist.

Tune in for stories & songs from Jamie on this episode of In The Country.