He was the only child of Charles E. Yost, the proprietor and a journalist of The Fayette Review (the only newspaper in the village at the time) and Ada Purcell, daughter of Lott.
[citation needed] After leaving Detroit, he went to Berlin to study with renowned Russian virtuoso Issay Barmas.
He moved to Indianapolis around 1907 and between 1907 and 1911 he toured as a concert artist across the United States, Europe, and South America.
[citation needed] He began teaching at the collegiate level in 1911, as head of the violin department of the Indiana Conservatory of Music.
[5][9][10] In 1936, he earned the Doctorate of Music degree from Waynesburg College as well as an honorary membership in the Institut Litteraire et Artistique de France.