Special to the Northwest Florida Daily News/USA TODAY NETWORK
DEFUNIAK SPRINGS - Country singer Jeff Bates will kick off LakeFest on May 14 with a free concert at 7 p.m. at the DeFuniak Springs Amphitheatre.
“Jeff Bates has an enormous following of fans including those in DeFuniak Springs,” said DeFuniak Springs Mayor Bob Campbell, chair of the festival’s organizing group. “We are very excited he could accept our invitation to open LakeFest 2021, and we expect record crowds for his performance.”
Jeff Bates signed to RCA Records in late 2002 and released his debut album Rainbow Man in May 2003, followed by his second RCA album, Leave The Light On in 2005. Bates’s two RCA albums accounted for seven chart singles on the Billboard country charts, of which three reached the Top 40: “The Love Song,” “I Wanna Make You Cry,” and “Long, Slow Kisses.”