for a Grammy Award. The success of the Jones cuts led to Yates signing with Curb Records in 1993. He released one single titled "Turn for the Worse", which was also recorded by Dude Mowrey that same year. In addition, Kenny Chesney would later cover the song on his 1996 album Me and You. Yates also co-wrote the title track of Ricky Van Shelton's 1993 album A Bridge I Didn't Burn. Yates left Curb after only the one single; he would later tell the blog Country Music News International that "nothing came" of its release. Despite this, he continued to write songs, record demos, and perform at songwriter showcases throughout Nashville. Among his successes as a songwriter was "From Good to Bad to Worse to Gone", a cut from Ricochet's self-titled debut album in 1996. In 1997, record producer Garth Fundis heard Yates perform at a Nashville club and chose to sign him to Almo Sounds, an independent label whose Nashville division he was president of at the time. The label released his debut album Billy Yates that same year; Yates co-wrote every song and co-produced with Fundis. "I Smell Smoke" was initially selected as the lead single, but due to a large number of stations playing "Flowers", the label began officially promoting that song as a single in May 1997. "Flowers" went on to reach number 36 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1997. The song came about when co-writer Monty Criswell presented the idea to Yates during a songwriting session. It is about a man who expresses remorse after his wife dies in an automobile accident caused by him driving under the influence. Yates described the song as "special" and said that he was willing to record a song that "strikes a nerve". "Flowers" also received a music video, which was nominated by Billboard at their 1997 Music Video Awards in the category of Best New Country Artist. Writing for Country Standard Time, Joel Bernstein praised Yates' voice and Fundis' production, but thought that the album's ballads were better written than the up-tempo songs. Bob Cannon of Entertainment Weekly rated the album "C+", describing the song "Flowers" as "maudlin" and overall finding Yates' style imitative of Merle Haggard. Yates would chart only one more single for Almo Sounds, "When the Walls Come Tumblin' Down", before the label closed its Nashville division later in 1997. Despite this,