Lawson Bates Celebrates Love and Faith in New ‘One + One’ Video [Exclusive Premiere]
Lawson Bates' new video for "One + One" is a family affair that celebrates a love that's informed by Christian faith.
The 26-year-old singer is one of Gil & Kelly Jo Bates' 19 children. The family star in Bringing Up Bates, which is now in its eighth season. Bringing Up Bates airs Thursdays at 9PM ET on UPtv.
Bates is joined on the track and in the video by gospel singer Olivia Collingsworth.
"We're not in this thing alone / And we won't get it right on our own / It's gonna take help, it's gonna take faith / But with you and God and me / One plus one equals three," they sing together in the chorus.
Lawson wrote the song for the wedding of his sister Tori Bates and Bobby Smith in December of 2017. His newly shot video for "One + One" stars their sister, Carlin Bates, and her fiance Evan Stewart, who are set to wed in May of 2019. Viewers get to watch as Evan and Carlin act out courting, getting engaged and then celebrating their marriage, in a beautiful preview of Carlin’s upcoming wedding for all of the Bates family's fans. The clip debuts exclusively with Taste of Country today.
"One of my goals, when I sat down with Adam Wheeler to write this song, was not just to crank out another love song full of platitudes, but finding a way to weave in the deeper truth that the strongest love is rooted in faith," Bates tells us. "It's faith that is what will get us through the highs and lows of life."
He drew on the Bible for part of the song's inspiration.
"Knowing this would be a country/Gospel crossover, I kept thinking about the passage in the New Testament that talks about a threefold chord not being easily broken, and that tied perfectly into our hook!" Bates shares. "We got into the studio, and it all came together. It was a blast collaborating with Gospel singer Olivia Collingsworth who absolutely nailed the harmonies. When it came to the video, I thought instead of casting actors, let’s have my sister Carlin and my soon-to-be brother-in-law Evan, who are actually in love, play the roles! They were totally up for it, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out."
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