Broken tailbone doesn't stop Jeff Bates

Jeff Bates

In this time of faux outlaws, Jeff Bates is a refreshing real deal. His back story reads like a Johnny Cash song - abandoned as a baby, raised by sharecroppers, Bates has endured three marriages, a drug habit and some time in jail for grand larceny. But that's nothing compared to the crime against esthetics that his art director is guilty of - picking a CD cover photo that's a dead ringer for Garth Brooks' ill-fated alter ego Chris Gaines. Bates' music doesn't ...

Leave the Light On

David Allan Coe just might think Jeff Bates' second CD is the perfect country and western al-bum, since he�s got songs about Mama (�Mama Was a Lot Like Jesus�) and prison (�That�ll Get You Ten�) and prisoners who want to drive trucks (�One Second Chance.�) It�s true Bates doesn�t have much to say about trains or getting drunk, but maybe the fact that he�s actually been behind bars will give him enough outlaw extra credit to make up for that lapse. It�s all academic because Coe�s crowd is ...

Rainbow Man

Jeff Bates has a heck of a story - given up for adoption, he grew up in Mississippi, worked on an oil rig and as a carpenter, and even spent time in jail on drug charges before getting his first cuts as a songwriter and, eventually, his own record deal - but more importantly, he has a heck of a voice. With his deep, powerful baritone, he's an aural dead ringer for Conway Twitty, and the singer isn't afraid to exploit the resemblance - not, as Jerry Seinfeld would say, that there's anything wrong with that. ...