Joe Tate

About Joe Tate

Joe Tate is the former leader of the Redlegs, a sort of pirate rock n’ roll band that formed in the houseboat colony of Sausalito, California during the late sixties. They were known as troublemaking outlaws and were shunned by the establishment music industry.

Joe has written a book titled “Last Voyage Of The Redlegs,” which recounts their adventures and exploits as they sailed San Francisco Bay, the Delta and the Pacific Ocean.

The tale covers their formation in the drug crazed hippie houseboat scene and their subsequent professional music career, as well as their sailing adventures that took them out across the Pacific and back.

The Last Voyage back from Hawaii brought them all back together in a houseboat community that had been devastated by heartless development. With their base of operations destroyed, the Redlegs dissolved into a mass of quivering protoplasm.

A couple of chapters of “Last Voyage,” are posted here (expired link) in PDF form. This recounts the beginnings of the band from Joe’sperspective, while he was many thousands of miles away in Costa Rica on the first leg of the Last Voyage.



Joe Tate was born in Thebes Illinois Sep. 24, 1940, the son of Louis and Fanny Tate. He Grew up in St. Louis, Mo. and graduated Normandy High School 1959,
attended Kansas Weslyan University on scholarship.
He also attended University of Missouri and Kansas City Conservatory of Music

He Moved to California in 1964 to enroll at UC Berkeley. When he went to the registrars office at Sproul Hall, it was blocked by demonstrators of the Free Speech movement, including Mario Savio. Since he couldn’t get into school, he watched the demonstration and met some musicians with whom he formed a band called Red Shepard and The Flock, a strong R&B club band.

After a couple years, RSANTF dissolved and Joe formed with a number of other groups including Salvation and the above mentioned Redlegs.

After the Redlegs dissolved in the early 80s, Joe explored many other musical forms including gospel, country, Brazilian, Hawaiian and just plain old standards.

Joe Tate still lives in Sausalito and plays every Monday at the Sausalito Cruising Club where he hosts the Blue Monday Jam Sessions with the Blue Monday Band and the Hippie Voices.