Joe Yates
Joe Yates (1895 - 1987) is a significant character in the pantheon of collected Australian musicians. He was born at Sunny Corner, near Bathurst in 1895, one of ten children. A musical family, his father and grandfather both played violin as did as most of his siblings who variously sang, played piano, violin or accordion.
His grandfather, George Sr. was born in Yorkshire in 1824. George Sr migrated to Queensland but soon moved to Hill End, NSW, attracted by the gold rush of the 1850s.
Joe Yates lived his life on and about the central tablelands of NSW, working as a boundary rider on Fremantle Station, east of Orange and later buying a farm at Botobolar, near Mudgee. Joe retired to Sofala, where he became known to a number of collectors interested in his music. These included John Meredith, Chris Sullivan, Mark Rummery, Cath Ovenden, Bob Campbell, Barry McDonald and Mike Martin who severally and variously collected Joe Yates. Much of the material collected from Joe Yates now sits with the National Library of Australia in their collections. Go to the NLA catalog and search for "Joe Yates".
During his retirement Joe Yates was better known by the locals as a storyteller and reciter. Two small books of his poems and stories were published. Joe died in February 1987, aged 92. He is buried at Sofala.
John Meredith published a number of Joe Yates’ tunes in his book: J Meredith, R Covell, & P Brown, Folk Songs of Australia Vol 2, UNSW Press, 1987, p176-196.
Mike Martin prepared and printed a book of his versions of the Yates tunes in 1999: "Collected Tunes From Joe Yates", Published by Mike Martin, 1999.
Joe Yates generally did not have any names for his tunes and those in this book were assigned by Mike Martin.
There are recordings of him in the Joe Yates folklore collection in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, along with other recordings, search the NLA catalog for "Joe Yates".
Joe Yates provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.
Cath Ovenden, Wendy Hodgins & Steve Cook played a number of tunes from the recording "The Fiddle Music of Joe Yates" (on Bandcamp) that are included in this archive. This recording from 2013, is a National Folk Fellowship project realised in partnership with the National Library of Australia and the National Folk Festival.
Cath Ovenden notes that "As a young fiddler, it was enriching to play with Joe Yates in his little house in Sofala in 1985. Joe always had a bed prepared for his visitors, a baked dinner cooking in the fuel stove, an open fire burning, and the violin tuned and ready. He was a gentle man with a big heart who welcomed us into his home and his history. Throughout his life Joe lived and worked in the bush; he wrote poems, tunes and songs about the scrubby plains, the rocky knolls and the wattles he loved. He was an astute observer of nature and had a remarkable memory for the names of everyone he’d ever met, every plant he ever saw, every place he’d worked in, and every tune he’d ever heard, tunes from his parents and grandparents who learned from their parents and grandparents. This music is a conveyor belt that connects us back to an aural tradition seeded in Europe, carried here in the hearts and hands of those who emigrated. "
