Leave the Light On

1	Long, Slow Kisses 3:10
2	Rub It In 3:05
3	No Shame 3:02
4	Hands on Man 2:50
5	Leave the Light On 3:28
6	That'll Get You Ten 3:59
7	The Woman He Walked On 3:05
8	One Second Chance 3:44
9	Good People 3:05
10	I Can't Write That 3:55
11	What I Know 3:05
12	Mama Was a Lot Like Jesus 3:30

Barnes & Noble

Jeff Bates follows up a winning debut by putting his deep, sensuous baritone to good use on a batch of love songs -- the good and the gone, the fondly or achingly recalled. There's a yearning, string-enriched ballad, "Long, Slow Kisses," with Bates taking a Conway Twitty-style singing/speaking approach, and something a little more low-down in a funkified rendition of Billy "Crash" Craddock's classic "Rub It In." A soothing country love song, "Leave the Light On," gives Bates a chance to coo the title sentiment in a warm, smooth voice, because when they get down to brass tacks, well, "I love that look that tells me you're ready / As you let me take your nightgown off." Then of course there's the musical equivalent of a cold shower in sensitive, introspective ballads such as "I Can't Write That," in which Bates offers a clever explanation of why he's still too damaged to write a song about the woman he loved and lost. But then there's "What I Know," which begins weepingly, lamenting the gone girl, and suddenly breaks into a sprint as Bates rumbles and roars about how much solace can be found in a place where "the music's loud and the beer is cold" -- and a crowd's shouting out the chorus. Easy come, easy go. This is good stuff. David McGee

All Music Guide

On his second album, Leave the Light On, Jeff Bates remains an appealing singer, blessed with a smooth, deep baritone that gives his music an earthiness even when it gets a little bit sappy. But if his 2003 debut, Rainbow Man, leaned heavily on love songs, this 2006 effort is a leaner, straight-ahead traditionalist country record. Each cut has a bit of grit in it, whether it's on the rollicking, twangy "Good People," George Jones-styled barroom weepers like "The Woman He Walked On," or even a cover of Billy "Crash" Craddock's early-'70s hit "Rub It In," a greasy slice of Southern soul 'n' country that for most 2006 listeners will unfortunately bring to mind Glade's Plug It In, Plug It In campaign of the '90s, yet it's a testament to Bates' strengths as a vocalist that he makes this song work despite that association. Not that he pulls off every song here -- the opening cut (and lead single) "Long Slow Kisses" stumbles in its attempts at seduction, while the closer, "Mama Was a Lot Like Jesus," is unbearably heavy-handed and mawkish -- but even when the songs don't work, Bates and his studio band sound good, helping to make Leave the Light On a strong sophomore release from this skilled singer. Stephen Thomas Erlewine