Michael Joseph, a junior criminal justice major at UTM, performed last Friday and Saturday on the main stage in the Soybean Festival. Joseph’s story, however, began in his hometown of Richland, Mass., that some would call an unlikely place for country music.

Joseph characterizes his music as a “new flavor” of traditional Texas country music.

“I would have to say that the compliments I had (at the Soybean Festival) was amazing. All the different emotions that my songs bring to them was great, the way the audience accepted it,” Joseph said.

“I never really thought about writing songs,” Joseph said. He used to write lyric poems for people at their birthdays and they later turned them into songs.

Miller, a UTM student, soccer player and cancer survivor, spoke at a university engagement for athletes. Joseph said, “Emily left the whole gymnasium in tears. I went home and began to write a song.” The song he wrote for her, “I Can’t be Beat,” played at the Country Cares Radiothon in Memphis and in conjunction with an interview with Emily Miller on Fox Sports Network.

Joseph said that his inspiration for singing constantly gets renewed.

“Country Strong,” Joseph’s debut album, was released Aug. 4, and his producer was his childhood piano teacher. Joseph went to preschool in the building that would later record his first album, and his parents were married in the church above the studio.

Joseph has performed at the Guthrie Center in Mass., and Arlo Guthrie’s band members are the band members on his album. He said several new performances are being arranged because of his performance at the Soybean Festival, and his album and posters are available for purchase at the UTM bookstore.