top of page

Joe Baker

East TN-based Attorney, Entrepreneur, Founder of Ole Smokey Distiller, Yee-Haw Brewing, and Ober Mountain

Research

  • Represented highly controversial legal clients, including individuals accused or convicted of child rape, sex offenses, drug trafficking, DUI, and cockfighting. His firm marketed itself as “Tennessee child rape defense lawyers” and “sex crime defense attorneys.”

  • Donated $250,000 to Ron DeSantis’s “Never Back Down” PAC, making him DeSantis’s largest donor in Tennessee. Also gave $15,000 to Donald Trump, a much smaller amount comparatively.

  • His company Yee-Haw Brewing publicly supported Pride Month (2022) and the Black Lives Matter movement (2020), positions that could be controversial among conservative voters.

  • Hosted a 2021 COVID-19 vaccine clinic at one of his venues featuring First Lady Jill Biden and Brad Paisley; attendance was low, potentially undercutting the intended publicity value.

  • In a 2015 blog post, Baker Associates thanked President Obama for commuting the sentence of a convicted “career offender,” potentially signaling inconsistent ideological alignment.

  • Received over $4.2 million in PPP loans (2020–2021) across multiple affiliated companies, including Ole Smoky Distillery, Yee-Haw Brewing, and Baker Associates.

bottom of page