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.

Thirty-three years later, the Charlotte-based songwriter is still working to hone his ability to tell a better story through words and music. Middleton draws from influences ranging from Cash to Springsteen to create what he considers to be short-form musical plays. His songs are heavily inspired by the current social climate and a need to develop points of remembrance for the bad as well as the good.

This October, the fifty-some year journey will reach a critical point when Middleton releases his first solo album, "Highway Tremolo." The 9 songs included were recorded and produced by Eric Lovell at Charlotte's Blu Bubble Studio. Whether you refer to his music as Americana, folk-rock, alt-country or anything else, for Joe Middleton these are stories; stories that need to be told.