Joe Middleton has always known his true calling. It's only taken 50 plus years to get there. After spending the better part of the 80s traveling up and down the eastern seaboard bar circuit, he left the road to settle into family life. Rock and Roll had always been his bread and butter, but deep down, he identified as a folk singer; a teller of tales through song. Then, in 1986, he had an epiphany. A friend gave him a homemade cassette of Steve Earle's breakthrough album, "Guitar Town." For Middleton, Earle’s songs literally changed the way he looked at songwriting. It was then that he decided to get serious about his craft.