Jeff Bates, ‘One Day Closer’ – Song Spotlight

Jeff Bates rings in the new year with 'One Day Closer,' the title track and first single from his upcoming album of inspirational country songs.

Chiming guitars and gentle piano gently unfold behind Bates' trademark deep baritone as he questions pretty much everything, while remaining confident that all his answers will be waiting for him in heaven.

"I'm one day closer / To one day knowing / All the answers I've been searching for / My time on earth is getting shorter / And my list of questions keeps on growing / But I'm one day closer to one day knowing how it feels / To stand among the angels and why sometimes they don't intervene."

Making an album full of inspirational songs is "something I've wanted to do for a long time," Bates tells fans on his official website. Of the songs chosen, he explains: "They're all extremely personal to me. Some of them I actually grew up singing with my mother, and some I've written with some really close personal friends."

Bates, a 2010 ICM Mainstream Country Artist of the Year nominee, is a noted songwriter in addition to his solo career.  He recently had two of his songs appear on Trace Adkins' current album 'Cowboy's Back in Town.' His own new album, 'One Day Closer,' is due in record stores some time in 2011.

Listen to Jeff Bates, 'One Day Closer'