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Rainbow Man - Jeff Bates | |
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Reviewed by Matt Bjorke
"This entire album is my life as I have lived it set to music," Jeff Bates says about his debut album called Rainbow Man. "It is every bit the truth." With a statement like that, Jeff Bates shows that he's no 21-year-old cookie cutter artist, he's a thirty something man who grew up in a large family (8 siblings and 2 cousins) in Mississippi.
Like many children in the south, Jeff's parents fed him a steady diet of country music artists like Webb Pierce, Loretta Lynn, and Patsy Cline and Grand Old Opry box sets. Also when he was 10 years old Elvis caught his attention and Jeff instantly knew what he wanted to do. He left home at 17 "to see the world" and eventually landed in Arkansas and started to sing in a band and eventually moved to Nashville only to see his career get derailed by drugs. Thinking his "life was over," Jeff found out that Gene Watson recorded a couple of his songs and that Tracy Lawrence recorded a song Jeff wrote with his producer and close friend Kenny Beard, "What A Memory." Jeff also scored a cut on Montgomery Gentry's latest CD as well ("Break My Heart Again" from My Town).
With a life story as interesting as that, Jeff opens up Rainbow Man with the words "If you hear it on the radio and don't turn it up, it ain't country enough." "Country Enough" is a twangy song about the praises of country music and how country folks only listen to the one station and don't need any other songs. With a solid melody and catchy lyrics, this song would sound great as a second single from the CD.
The first single is the Top 15 single, "The Love Song." This charming and heartfelt ballad encompasses the many ways a person can feel and express a love for somebody. Love doesn't have to be only about your spouse, it can be for your family and friends and pets as well.
Showcasing his deep baritone voice, Jeff recites the verses of "Long, Slow Kisses" while he sings the chorus. Not one of those trendy "country-rap" songs that Trace Adkins and Toby Keith have done recently, "Long, Slow Kisses" is about a guy who realizes he's made mistakes, (after she tells him), with his relationship and decides to do something about it. This song becomes a very romantic song once the chorus kicks in.
"I Wanna Make You Cry" is another romantic song but this one is sung in a style that is eerily similar to Conway Twitty and would make a great wedding song. Jeff sings about all the things he wants to do her right by and that he wants to love so much that he can make her cry tears of joy. I am betting that ladies all over the country will love this song.
Want to know Jeff's life story? Just listen to the delta soul ballad "My Mississippi" and you will understand who Jeff Bates is and how he's gotten to where he is. It is a song about his four first loves, the car, the guitar, the girl that broke his heart and Mississippi.
"Already Spent" has a fun uptempo sound to it and it talks about spending your money before you get it. Almost every blue collar person can relate to a song like this one, "It's already spent, every dime I'll ever make, from the high cost of living and what the government takes."
"Rainbow Man" is a song about a man who was given away at 3 months old and was taken in by a preacher's daughter and a sharecropper father. Half Apache Indian (from his birth mom), the man is sure that he's got more than his share of minority blood in him too (from his birth father), "I've never fit in anyplace, 'cause there's always a part of me to hate... I'm a Rainbow Man, livin' in a rainbow land, I'm white, black, yellow, brown and tan, I'm so proud of the colors that I am, I'm a rainbow man...these colors make me American, I'm a rainbow man." Oh, who is the rainbow man? Why Jeff Bates himself is the "Rainbow Man."
"My Inlaws Are Outlaws" is a traditional styled song about Jeff's in-laws. They are really like this song, so much that the father-in-law loves this enough to laugh and cheer when hearing the song. I bet more than just Jeff Bates' in-laws are like the couple mentioned here. This track is a nice honky tonker that would do really good on radio.
Jeff Bates wears his heart on his sleeve and has created one of the best debut albums to be released in quite a while. Every song on "Rainbow Man" could be a single and with the success of "The Love Song," it looks like country music may have found a new superstar in Jeff Bates. If you love heartfelt country music, then you'll love this CD.
Song List:
Album cover, used with permission of RCA Records.
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