It was about three years ago that Jeff Bates came to accept two life-changing realities. First, he had to stop fighting - the way he had for years - the constant comparison that he kept getting from radio deejays and country music industry folks that he sounded like the late Conway Twitty. Second, rather than fight the comparison, he had to "own it."
The result of that two-part epiphany is Bates' new Conway Twitty tribute album, "Me and Conway," according to the press release. The album features a duet with country legend Loretta Lynn and Bates on her classic hit with Twitty "After The Fire Is Gone." The album will be available on Nov. 11.
"People always told me I sounded like Conway and though I never agreed, I always took it as a compliment," Bates said. "I think it's because we were both from Mississippi, enunciated similarly and we both have that gravel sound in our voices."
The Bates-Twitty association was front and center when Bates met with Joe Galante and Renee Bell of RCA Records for the first time.
"I performed 'Long Slow Kisses' and 'I Wanna Make You Cry' for them and I learned that Renee had been Conway's A&R rep at MCA," Bates recalled, "and she had called the meeting to find out who the guy was that reminded her so much of her friend, Conway. I went to great lengths to explain that I really didn't sound as much like him as she thought I did and if she would just A/B our voices side by side and listen she would hear huge differences. She just smiled her sweet Renee smile and said, 'Honey, it's not a bad thing at all. Yes, you sound like you but when you sing I hear Conway's soul in your voice!"
Signed to RCA Records in late 2002, Bates released his debut album "Rainbow Man" in May 2003. A second album, "Leave The Light On," was released in 2005. Bates' two RCA albums accounted for seven chart singles on the Billboard country charts, including "The Love Song," "I Wanna Make You Cry" and "Long, Slow Kisses."
No matter how many songs Bates released, he continued to battle the powers that be at radio about the comparison to Twitty. He constantly heard, "You sound like Conway Twitty," and even "You sound too much like Conway Twitty!"
Then came the epiphany - and he finally decided to let it go.
"If people wanted to think that I sounded like him then so be it," he said. "I could spend my life arguing about it or I could just continue to write songs and sing what I felt. Then about three years ago I decided I would 'own it.'"
When Bates sang "After The Fire Is Gone" at the annual Conway Twitty Weekend that Lynn hosts at her Hurricane Mills Tennessee ranch, the pieces for the tribute album began to fall into place.
Lynn agreed to sing with Bates on "After The Fire Is Gone" for the tribute album. Lynn had not recorded the song with anyone in the 43 years since the original version with Conway was released in 1971.
So, Bates decided to record a new album with six Conway songs and six others so that fans could hear the differences and similarities for themselves. On "Me and Conway," Bates has included renditions of the Twitty classics, "Don't Take It Away," "Lost In The Feeling," "I'd Love To Lay You Down" and "That's My Job."
Check out the new album, and you be the judge on the Bates-Twitty comparison.
