Tom Yates will take your blues away

It was the golden days of country, rock and blues joints in this area, even before it was labeled MetroWest. There was Timothy's Spirits in Framingham; the Poor Farm and Manny's Cafe, both in Hudson; the Wreck Lounge in Marlborough.

Bring back memories of the '70s?

They sure do for Tom Yates. The singer/guitarist played 'em all. Now 55, Yates is in his 40th year performing, having started in garage bands when he attended Hudson High, Class of 1970.

"When I was 16, I started playing in clubs, at high school dances and parties." Music was a staple in the family. "My father played the piano and my grandfather wrote hymns." His four siblings played instruments.

He took up the guitar when he was 9 or 10. Just for fun. When he was 14, he was taking it more seriously.

"When the Beatles came out, everyone got interested in music," says Yates. "I was self-taught on guitar."

"He knows all the songs, and plays them like an old jukebox," says Rick Maida, who books acts for the Colonial Inn in Concord where Yates performs regularly. "He does a great Johnny Cash."

Maida first saw Yates at the Acton Jazz Cafe and signed him up for the Colonial Inn.

Yates had a short stay at the Berklee School of Music. "I wasn't prepared," he admits. "I dropped out after a couple of months and got in a band."

A string of gigs at Holiday Inn and Ramada Inn lounges followed. Ultimately, the road led to performing at the Playboy Club in New York.

"We did three shows a night. It was grueling," says Yates. "Same jokes. Same songs. Kind of boring. But the scenery was real good. But we weren't allowed to fraternize with the Bunnies. There were four or five pages of rules about that."

Yates played with obscure bands like Free Society, Ferris Wheel and Sunny Down Snuff, its name taken from a Beach Boys lyric.

In the mid-70s Yates joined The Estes Boys, a country rock band.

"We were one of the first in the Boston area, I think," says Yates. "We started around the time The Eagles came around." The band played the Poor Farm. "The Cars sort of got started there."

Yates stayed with the band for three years, then moved on to Timothy's Spirits, owned by Ken's Steak House owner Tim Hanna. "I played there for five years," says Yates. "It was great. You could play whatever you wanted. We got good crowds."

Still, his music wasn't paying all the bills. Yates worked at a studio in Dorchester in the daytime. "Songwriters came in and wanted to record something, but they didn't have a band."

Yates and his wife, Jane, moved to Stow 30 years ago. His wife opened a restaurant/catering service in Sudbury. Yates went to work there. "I was sort of in semi-retirement," he says. "I kept playing, but just less." They sold the place in 2001.

Now Yates is rocking again, with steady gigs at the Colonial Inn and Acton Jazz Cafe. "I still do a lot of freelance work. Someone will call and say, 'Can you play three weeks from tonight?' I've done a lot of that."

"I love performing with him," says Maida, an accomplished musician. "We're children of the '60s."

Yates, who last winter played two local gigs with Charlie Neville of the Neville Brothers Band, won the Guitar Center Northeast King of Blues title last year.

The day job has changed for Yates. He works at Debra's Natural Gourmet in West Concord. "I work in the kitchen."

Yates can hardly believe how the time has flown by. Forty years with the guitar, from The Poor Farm in Hudson to the Playboy Club in Manhattan.

Any regrets along the way?

"Not really," he says. "I just wanted to get out there and play. And make a living."

The Tom Yates Group plays at the Colonial Inn, 48 Monument Square, Concord, on Friday, April 18 at 8 p.m. There is no cover charge. For more information, call 978-369-9200 or visitwww.concordscolonialinn.com.