Biography
 

Joy is what listeners often see and feel coming from Yata as he sings and performs the songs he has written; and he's written quite a few, many of which are on his twelve  original CD recordings. 

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Besides doing solo performances, his trio ,Yata, Sinz and Orfield, have been together since 2011 and bring a masterful mashup of blues, folk, country and swing jazz with vocals, guitars and sax.  A special chemistry moves as they combine their songwriting and performing skills, presenting a musically powerful and entertaining performance.  

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Yata Peinovich began as a songwriter of love ballads while a freshman at St. Olaf College and over five decades has explored musical genres from island calypso, Mississippi ragtime, swing jazz, gospel, rockin' blues to Americana folk songs with wit and humor. Weaving original melodies around the words of timeless poets (Yeats, Dickinson, Whitman) is his metier.  

 

Early in his career he formed Artesian Dreams with jazz guitarist Dave Peterson and classically trained violinist Jim Price. The trio won a Minnesota Music Award for Best Folk Band, and were also nominated in the jazz category.

 

Next, he moved to Western Wisconsin where he began a family, and continued to write and record original music. 

 

Yata has a passion for performance, connecting with the audience from concert stages and outdoor festivals, to intimate venues such as coffeehouses and classrooms. He also organizes  community music events and mentors emerging artists.

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Over twenty-five years, Yata and his wife, artist Jean Accola, have traveled afar to be immersed in other cultures including Asia, Africa, Central America, the Caribbean, Europe and the Hawaiian Islands.  The people, places and experiences are reflected in their compositions and expanding views of art, music and culinary arts.

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He currently  hosts World Music programming on WOJB radio. Yata has been a guest artist on A Prairie Home Companion, Northern Spirit Radio, Simply Folk and Spectrum West - Wisconsin Public Radio.

 

Yata and Jean lived for forty years in a converted country schoolhouse in rural Pepin County, Wisconsin before moving to a wilderness lake in the north woods of Wisconsin  where Jean has an art gallery in a hundred year old restored log cabin overlooking a lake.  They spend their winters in Costa Rica on Lake Arenal and summers with family and friends in Wisconsin. 

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