''Billy Yates'' is the debut studio album by American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
singer
Billy Yates. It was released on June 17, 1997, via
Almo Sounds.
Content
The album's lead single was "I Smell Smoke", but due to several radio stations playing the track "Flowers" instead, Almo Sounds withdrew "I Smell Smoke" and released "Flowers" instead. "Flowers" would peak at number 36 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States.
This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...
charts in mid-1997. "When the Walls Come Tumblin' Down" was the album's third and final single release.
covered "
Choices
A choice is the range of different things from which a being can choose. The arrival at a choice may incorporate motivators and models. For example, a traveler might choose a route for a journey based on the preference of arriving at a given ...
" on his 1999 album ''
Cold Hard Truth Cold Hard Truth may refer to:
* Cold Hard Truth (album), a 1999 album by George Jones
* Cold Hard Truth (song), a 2017 song by Nelly Furtado
* Cold Hard Truth (Dead Zone), an episode of the TV series The Dead Zone
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''.
Critical reception
Joel Bernstein of
Country Standard Time was favorable toward Yates' voice and the production of
Garth Fundis
Garth Fundis is an American country music record producer. Active since the 1970s, Fundis has produced albums for several country artists, including Alabama, Don Williams, Trisha Yearwood, Sugarland, and Keith Whitley. He has also served as a ju ...
. He thought that some of the songs such as "Long Neck Connected to the Beer Joint" were "silly", but praised the lyrics of "Broken Hearted Me", "Mama Said", and "Easier Said Than Done" in particular.
Bob Cannon of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' rated the album "C+", calling "Flowers" "maudlin" and overall finding Yates' style imitative of
Merle Haggard.
Track listing
Charts
References
{{Reflist
1997 debut albums
Billy Yates (singer) albums
Almo Sounds albums
Albums produced by Garth Fundis