Biography
In Missouri the surname Politte has been documented among French-American residents since the opening decades of the eighteenth century. Lead miners established the settlement of Old Mines in 1723, many arriving straight from France while others descended the rivers from Quebec; numerous members of those first groups bore the same family name. The lineage of old-time fiddler Joe Politte belonged to one of the final households in the district that still spoke only French before acquiring English, and facial features also suggest an admixture of Native American ancestry.
Although music never provided his livelihood, Politte earned his keep trading horses and mules—an occupation that left him handling asses throughout the workday, a circumstance any working musician can readily appreciate. He likewise farmed, logged timber, drove wagons and later trucks. As a youth he studied cello, eventually ascending to preeminence among Missouri fiddlers and, like many senior practitioners, becoming a living repository of traditional tunes. He took particular pleasure in introducing melodies unknown to his listeners and regularly presented one rare obscurity after another at gatherings such as the 1977 Brandywine Music Convention. A piece like “Wagoner” received from him the distinctive lilt only a man who had actually hauled freight could impart.
Certain items in his store of melodies were so ancient that he retained only the names of the fiddlers who taught them; consequently the pieces themselves came to be identified by those players’ names, a custom that, had it existed in country blues, might have forestalled later appropriations by figures such as Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger. A New Haven company issued a double album of his performances entitled I’m Old, But I’m Awfully Tough, an effort fully justified by the rarity and depth of the material it contains.
Although music never provided his livelihood, Politte earned his keep trading horses and mules—an occupation that left him handling asses throughout the workday, a circumstance any working musician can readily appreciate. He likewise farmed, logged timber, drove wagons and later trucks. As a youth he studied cello, eventually ascending to preeminence among Missouri fiddlers and, like many senior practitioners, becoming a living repository of traditional tunes. He took particular pleasure in introducing melodies unknown to his listeners and regularly presented one rare obscurity after another at gatherings such as the 1977 Brandywine Music Convention. A piece like “Wagoner” received from him the distinctive lilt only a man who had actually hauled freight could impart.
Certain items in his store of melodies were so ancient that he retained only the names of the fiddlers who taught them; consequently the pieces themselves came to be identified by those players’ names, a custom that, had it existed in country blues, might have forestalled later appropriations by figures such as Elvis Presley or Mick Jagger. A New Haven company issued a double album of his performances entitled I’m Old, But I’m Awfully Tough, an effort fully justified by the rarity and depth of the material it contains.