La primera canción conocida de Billy Yates como autor fue el exitazo de George Jones "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair", aunque ese éxito inicial fue la culminación de años de trabajo y épocas duras, así como una entrega total a la Música Country.

Nacido en Doniphan, Missouri, Yates fue criado en una pequeña granja cinco millas de la ciudad, cerca de la frontera con Arkansas. "Vivimos de la tierra", rememora Billy. "Recuerdo los jardines que plantábamos. Teníamos nuestra propia vaca para leche y mantequilla, y criamos nuestra propia carne de vaca, cerdo y aves de corral".

Los padres de Yates vinieron de familias musicales y así consiguió una iniciación temprana en la Música Country. Las mañanas de los domingos en la radio KDFN de Doniphan "mi padre tocaba la guitarra y el resto de nosotros cantábamos en vivo durante 15 minutos, antes de ir a la iglesia". El Country era todo lo que conocía Billy de siempre, música country - gospel y la realidad de su educación. "Éramos bastante pobres, aun para esa comunidad pequeña, pero siempre teníamos todo lo que necesitamos. No cambiaría mi niñez por nada".

Yates comenzó a cantar armonías mientras buscaba en la colección de discos de su padre- una pila que incluía Jim Reeves, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Mac Wiseman, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and The Louvin Brothers.. "A partir de allí empecé a escuchar artistas como Emmylou Harris y Don Williams" dice Billy.

Después de graduarse del colegio, visitó el Wappapello Opry, un espectáculo familiar en Wappapello, Missouri. "Vi el show y recuerdo tener nudos en el estómago de las ganas que tenia de subir al escenario y cantar" explica. "Después de la actuación, busqué a la dueña y tuve el valor de preguntar, "¿cuando harán audiciones?" Yates no estaba preparado cuando respondió "puedes hacerlo ahora, así que venga entre bastidores". Yo pensaba, "¿Y ahora que hago?" Toda la gente que estaba en el show me esperaba en un círculo. En este momento de mi vida, esta gente era muy importante. Después de un improvisado "Cryin' My Heart Out Over You" le contrataron al instante, empezando el siguiente fin de semana. Estuvo tres años.

Después se matriculó a una escuela de barbería, consiguió su diploma, y volvió a su pueblo natal, donde trabajó como peluquero durante cinco años en su propia tienda muy cerca de la barbería de su padre. "Cortaba pelo, tocaba música los fines de semana, y trabajaba de siete hasta la medianoche en la radio local, KOEA, en el mismo edificio donde habíamos hecho años antes los conciertos de los domingos. Realmente me crié en esa emisora. En él tiempo que me quedaba, iba a la biblioteca a buscar discos para aprender los nombres de todos los músicos y productores. Después de años de pensar en irme a Nashville, llegue allí en 1987". El consejo de su padre de aprender un oficio le fue útil. Mientras que cantaba demos y aprendía el arte de escribir canciones, Yates aprovecho sus conocimientos de barbero para deberse a él y a su esposa, Nancy.

Eventualmente consiguió su primer trabajo con Hori Pro Entertainment Group. "Cuando llegué, tenía solamente una o dos canciones buenas" admite. "Dentro de un par de meses, había escrito unas 10 o 15 canciones". De esas primeras canciones salió el éxito de George Jones y 1993 CMA Vocal Event of the Year, "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair" además de la canción titular del álbum, "Walls Can Fall".
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Conseguir que George Jones grabe una canción es quizás el honor mas anhelado por cualquier autor de Nashville. Los que han escrito éxitos para otros artistas abiertamente admiten que una canción en un álbum de Jones es un hito.

Después de años de luchar en Nashville, el reconocimiento inicial ha hecho que Yates se diera cuenta de la importancia del optimismo ligado al trabajo duro. "Si hubiera desistido durante los primeros 5 años aquí, no hubiera llegado a nada" dice.

Mucho ha sucedido desde entonces, incluyendo cuatro canciones más grabados por George Jones, incluyendo una nominación de Grammy para "Choices", junto con otros de Ricochet, Ricky Van Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Gary Allan, Tracy Lawrence, Doug Stone, David Allan Coe y otros. Agradece sus éxitos, pero Yates nunca abandonó su deseo de grabar. "Por eso vine a Nashville" dice. "Tuve un aprendizaje duro. Falta tiempo para sentar la cabeza y después tener una perspectiva coherente".

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Billy Yates first cut as a songwriter was the George Jones' smash, I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair, but that initial success was the culmination of years of hard work and thin times, as well as an uncompromising commitment to the power of country music.

Born in Doniphan, Missouri, Yates was raised on a small farm five miles outside the town located near the Arkansas line. "We pretty much lived off the land", Billy recalls. "I remember the big gardens we would plant. We had our own milk cow for milk and butter and raised our own beef, pork and poultry."

Both of Yates' parents came from musical families and he got an early initiation into performing live during a regular Sunday morning broadcast on KDFN-AM in Doniphan. "My dad would play guitar and the rest of us would sing on a 15-minute radio show we'd do before we went to church". Country was all Billy ever knew, whether it was the country-gospel music or just the reality of his upbringing. "We were fairly poor, even in that small community, but we always had everything we needed and I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything".

Yates began singing harmonies while digging into his dad's record collection -- a stack which included plenty of Jim Reeves, Ernest Tubb, George Jones, Mac Wiseman, Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and The Louvin Brothers. "That sort of evolved into listening to artists like Emmylou Harris and Don Williams later on," Billy says.

After his high school graduation he visited the Lake Wappapello Opry, a family oriented show in Wappapello, Missouri. "I watched the show and I remember my stomach being tied in knots because I wanted to be on that stage so bad," he explains. "After the show, I went to the lady who owned the place and somehow got the courage to ask, 'When do you hold auditions?' Yates wasn't prepared when the owner responded, "We can do an audition right now, so come backstage". He says, "I was thinking, 'what am I gonna do now?' I went backstage and all the people who were in the show were standing in a circle. At that point in my life, these people were bigger than life to me". After and impromptu performance of "Cryin' My Heart Out Over You," Yates was hired on the spot, started working there the next weekend and was there for three years.

He then enrolled in barber school, got his license, and returned to his hometown, where he worked as a barber for five years in his own shop just down the street from his dad's two-chair business. "I was cutting hair, playing music on the weekends, and working seven to midnight at the local FM station, KOEA, in the same building where we had done the Sunday morning broadcast years before on the AM station. I really grew up in that radio station. In my spare time, I'd go back to the record library and start pulling old records to learn the names of all the musicians and producers".

After years of contemplating a move to Nashville, he arrived in town in 1987. His father's advice about learning a trade was useful. While singing demos and learning the songwriter's craft, Yates used his barber's license to support himself and his wife, Nancy.

He eventually landed his first writer's deal with Hori Pro Entertainment Group. "When I got there, I only had a song or two that was any good," he admits. "Within just a couple of months, I had written probably 10 or 15 songs". Out of those first few songs came the George Jones hit and 1993 CMA Vocal Event of the Year, I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair along with the title cut of that same album, Walls Can Fall.

Getting George Jones to record your song is perhaps the most coveted honor for any Nashville songwriter. Those who have written countless hits for other artists openly admit that a track on a Jones album is their greatest dream.

After years of struggling in Nashville, the initial recognition made Yates realize the importance of unceasing optimism in the midst of hard work. "Had I given up within my first five years here, nothing would have happened", he says.

Plenty has happened since then, including four more song recorded by George Jones, including the Grammy nominated hit Choices, along with other cuts by Ricochet, Ricky Van Shelton, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Gary Allan, Tracy Lawrence, Doug Stone, David Allan Coe and others. He's thankful for all of his successes, but Yates never abandoned his desire to become a recording artist.

"It's what I came to Nashville to do," he says. "I had to learn a lot of things the hard way. It takes a while to get a level head and go after it with the right perspective