Some might say, “What took so long?” Jeff Bates, who has often had his voice compared to the legendary Conway Twitty, is releasing a tribute album to the late, great Twitty titled Me and Conway.
“People always told me I sounded like Conway and though I never agreed, I always took it as a compliment,” explains Bates. “I think it’s because we were both from Mississippi, enunciated similarly and we both have that gravel sound in our voices. In 2002, when I met with Joe Galante and Renee Bell at RCA 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 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!”
Despite not agreeing with the comparison, Bates finally gave up fighting it. “If people wanted to think that I sounded like him then so be it,” he says. “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.'”
Bates decided to record this 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 Conway Twitty classics, “Don’t Take It Away,” “Lost In The Feeling,” “I’d Love To Lay You Down” and “That’s My Job.”
Bates was honored beyond comparison when Country Music Hall of Fame and Grand Ole Opry member Loretta Lynn agreed to sing with him on her classic Conway duet, “After The Fire Is Gone.”
Lynn says of Bates, “He is one of the best singers I’ve ever heard in my life. I love him and Conway Twitty would have loved him!”
“Conway just always seemed to say the things I needed to say or wanted to say when I couldn’t find the words,” says Bates. “I would sing his songs in nightclubs and at shows throughout my career because those songs, his songs, meant something to me personally. I never met the man but he absolutely had a major impact on my career. I hope he would be proud of this tribute to him.”
Pre-sales for Me And Conway are available now through release day at www.jeffbates.net. The album will be available in all retail stores and Amazon.com, as well as digitally on iTunes.