Ch.: Billy; please introduce yourself to our European readers who might hear about you for the first time.

B.: My name is Billy Yates. I grew up in Doniphan, Missouri, in the central part of the USA, around some great Country Music. I was born into a very musical family and when I was a kid I always dreamed of making music and of taking it to the US - I never dreamed that I would ever take my music to Europe. The last couple of years I was able to go on several occasions and do shows there and I had a great time. I am doing my own independent records and I find that the music is much more honest because I am able to do just what I want to. For the most part, the people in Europe have just embraced it so much - I have covered so much ground, but there is still a lot more that I want to cover. So I want to tell the people that do not know me yet, that hopefully I will get to your town and be able to shake your hand and meet you personally one day. I love Europe and the people in Europe seem to love the kind of music that I do.

Ch.: What I noticed when checking your website and talking to other artists including famous people like Ray Baker, is that they are full of praise about you and say that you are a great man. What do you think has built this opinion in people?

B.: I moved to Nashville in 1987 and in everything I do, I try to maintain some kind of integrity - in dealing with people and in my music. I care about people, about what they think and I still believe in what I do. I try not to make compromises. It is more important for me to sleep well at night than to be famous.

Ch.: We are sitting here at the rehearsal of a charity show called "Christmas for the Children" - how did you get in touch with this organization?

B.: The organization is based in a little town outside of Nashville where I live. There were about four men that got together and decided they were going to do this. As there are so many charity organizations a lot of times you do not know exactly where your money goes to. But for me this organization is different, because I know the people personally and I know where their heart is. They really care about children and try to find children that need help. I have gone along on the trips they organize for them. We take the children Christmas shopping for example. What is amazing about those trips is that you see children walk into the shops and go straight for the things they want to get for their family. In the end, you as a chaperone, have to remind them to also get something for themselves - but for them that is not so important.

Ch.: This is your first interview for Country Home. Please give us some more details about yourself.

B.: As I mentioned earlier, I grew up in a small town in Missouri. My dad was a barber and my mother was a housewife. We never had a lot of money, but we were a very loving family. So I think a lot of my compassion for people comes from the way that I grew up. I hope that the love I feel for the people shows in my music. I want to reach out to them with it and I hope it can mean something to them and make their life better.

Ch.: During the show you started to sing together with your son. Will there be a father-son duo in the future?

B.: I would love that, but he is still so young and it is too early to tell whether he is going to stay interested in it. At the moment he loves it and if he stays that way then that is great, if he does not, then that is fine too. I only want for him to do something that he is really interested in.

Ch.: How much does your family inspire your song writing?

B.: One of my uncles was a song writer. He wrote songs like "Shadows On My Mind" for Leon Everette and Vernon Oxford, "God's Gonna Get You For That" for George Jones and Tammy Wynette and he wrote a lot of things for the Wilburn Brothers. Back in his day he was a successful song writer and I think growing up with that took away the fear for me and I just tried to write songs.

Ch.: Can you give us some more details about the hits you wrote and the stories behind them?

B.: In the first place when I moved to town I wanted to be a singer and not a song writer. I started to hang out with a lot of song writers and before you know it, I am getting interested in writing songs. The first songs I wrote as a co-writer, which is a good way to learn everything, because it is always easier to learn by sharing your experience. Frank Dykus took me in and showed me a lot of things about writing songs. He called me one day and said "I have a great idea, let's write a song for George Jones. I already have the title in my head, we should call it 'I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair'." I replied that that was great and that I would come directly to his house. So I drove to his house, we wrote the song and then after just two weeks George recorded it. Things can happen as quickly as that. I just tell you that story because I want to encourage all these aspiring singers and writers that anything can happen. If you believe in it, it can happen, but you have to try. I have been very fortunate since then. I have had songs recorded by a lot of people and continued to work as a song writer in Nashville trying to get songs recorded by other artists. I have been writing for a publishing company steadily since 1992. It has been very rewarding and very good. I've never had a number One Hit, but I have had 40 or 50 songs recorded by different people. You do not get rich this way, but you can earn your living.

Ch.: You have been in the business for a long time now. Are there some stories that made you laugh during this time?

B.: A lot of little funny things have happened to me in this business. One of the funniest things concerned the song "I Don't Need Your Rocking Chair". Since it was my first song that got recorded I decided that I wanted to sneak into the studio to watch the recording. Normally, if a major artist like George Jones does a recording, that is not allowed. The song writer is not invited as that could spoil the atmosphere they are trying to create. But I knew when they wanted to do the recording and went by the studio. I drove around and hoped that I would see somebody familiar that would let me in. Then George came out to the parking lot to smoke a cigarette. I pulled up besides him. He did not know me because we had never met and so I introduced myself to him and told him that I had written the song. He just said "Oh, yes" and that they would record it that evening. Even though I started to give him hints and told him how much it would mean for me to be in the studio then, he did not invite me in. So that evening I drove around the studio again and I checked the doors, but all of them were locked. Then the fiddle player walked out of the back door and I just walked in like I owned the place. The musicians were in the middle of recording a song, so I tried to stay invisible and wanted to hide in one of the empty rooms. Unfortunately I ended up in the control room - I found a chair in the corner of the room and tried to hide there. They finished recording the song they had been working on and the producer wanted George to start the recording of 'my' song. He replied that he was hungry and wanted to take a break first. After some discussion his producer convinced him to do the recording first. Later I found out that George had spotted me and wanted to tease me by holding off on the recording. So, in the end, I did get to hear the recording and that was a great feeling for me.

Ch.: Billy what is the title of your current album and how is it doing?

B.: It is called 'Harmony Man'. I am proud of all my work, but this record especially. It is honest and real and very nice to listen to. There are a lot of love songs on the album, with a honky tonk edge to it. It is doing really well. I am getting some great reviews for it and a lot of artists called me up about it.

Ch.: What inspired the title of the album?

B.: It is the title of the first song on the album and I thought it had a very musical touch to it. That is why I chose it as the tile of the album as well.

Ch.: Did you write all songs of the album yourself or did you have some help?

B.: I do write a lot of songs, but a lot of times you tend to co-write with somebody else. This is the way the writing community in Nashville works. I also included a song I learned from Ricky Scaggs on the album, because I always liked the song. "Talk About Suffering" is an a cappella song. I like a variety of music styles like Bluegrass and Gospel. This type of music is a part of my upbringing. My parents used to have a Sunday morning radio show where they did County Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel music. When I was old enough to sing I sang along with them - so I learned how to sing harmony early on.

Ch.: Billy, you are a dad, husband, song writer, artist, performer - how can you bring all of those tasks together?

B.: A lot of it is just time management. I try to devote time for this and time for that and I work very hard in keeping those times. When I am at home for example my time belongs to my family. We have special family time when we play games with our little boy and that is important to all of us. You have priorities for different times. When I am in town or on tour in Europe, music is my life. I stay in touch with my family and make sure that they are taken care of and have some kind of help because my wife works too. We just have a normal life with the exception of me travelling and doing music. Also you try to find a balance and not to be too concerned about any one thing because it keeps life better this way. When I first moved to Nashville there was only music - I did shows every single night and it started to getting too much. I started not to enjoy it any more, which is not good. Sometimes you need to get away from it a little bit, so that when you hear good music you can still feel it. I live about 30 miles away from Nashville which helps because by being away just a little bit of it all when I am home I can live a normal family life and when I am at work I can concentrate on my work.

Ch.: What differentiates the young Billy Yates from the one of today?

B.: I do not think that too many things have changed. I am still the same man. When I go back home to Missouri, it may happen that people try to treat me a little different because of the little success that I have had. I myself feel like I am the same and I am really glad that I feel this way. A lot of it has to do with keeping a good attitude about he business and trying to not letting is affect you the bad way.

Ch.: We have talked about a lot of things now. Is there anything that we have not yet talked about that you want to tell the fans?

B.: If the fans want to find out more about me, they should visit my website: www.billyyates.com There are photos on the site, merchandise, my CDs, lots of information about myself and you can write me messages from this site, which I always try to respond to. The CDs can also be found on websites like www.amazon.com and www.cdbaby.com and downloaded at iTunes or SonyConnect.

Ch.: Thank you for the interview, Billy.

Christian Lamitschka ( Ch.Lamitschka@t-online.de )