BIO
From a ridge in the Ohio River Valley, on a front porch where Kentucky’s visible through the winter’s bare trees, Joe Truck Stop conspires over a smoking blend of Bluegrass, Honky Tonk, Western Swing, and whatever else finds itself inhaled and manifested by way of a wood box and steel wire...Years of digesting so much of the Country Blues lexicon and traveling the country learning the numerous styles of fiddlers, writers, and travelers alike has led to the original music that comes by way of Joe’s Truck Stop.
The songs are stories of living on the road, love, temptation, heartbreak, family, banjo pickin' tobacco spittin' women, gas station sushi, and much more...
JTS has released a handful of self recorded demos and three studio albums, the Free Showers EP (2014), American Dreams (2018), and, Yonderings, released in April 2022 to much critical acclaim.
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"Yonderings reflects a singular style spun from down-home celebration — earnest, engaging and rooted in actual folk tradition."
- Bluegrass Today
In 2025, Joe's Truck Stop released The Magnolia Sessions with Anticorp Records as part of their MS series. Recorded in 2023, it highlights Joe and a few of his close friends playing through some songs of his, old and new, as well as classics by Woody Guthrie and Ola Belle Reed. More on The Magnolia Sessions:
"I enjoyed this album immensely...As a part of my eclectic and unbalanced musical diet, The Magnolia Sessions are vital. Recommended."
- Flying Fiddle Sticks
"It all simply falls in the right place here, you do get a feel that these four guys are jamming, beautifully, at a remote truck stop. All that is missing is the sound of a singular truck honking its horn as it passes by."
- Spill Magazine
JTS has shared bills with: Lost Dog Street Band, Town Mountain, Matt Heckler, Mandolin Orange, Wayne Hancock, The Local Honeys, Kelsey Waldon, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, JP Harris & the Tough Choices, Jason Eady, Jason Dae West, Foghorn Stringband, Joseph Huber, the Urban Pioneers, the Sweetback Sisters, Josh Morningstar, and many others. JTS has played on live television, radio, numerous festivals across the United States and in multiple countries in Europe.
Joe Macheret (Cincinnati, OH), bandleader and former member of Cincinnati stringband, The Tillers, has also lent his instrumental skills on stage and in the studio to Possessed By Paul James, Matt Heckler, JD Wilkes and the Legendary Shack Shakers, the Urban Pioneers, Buffalo Wabs and the Price HIll Hustle, Bill Kirchen, Redd Volkaert, Justin Wells, Chelsea Ford and the Trouble, Maria Carrelli, Lenny Lashley, and many other musicians and bands.
Through Joe’s Truck Stop’s international touring effort and Joe’s work as a sideman with several other touring bands, Joe’s Truck Stop has a following that spreads throughout the United States and numerous other countries.
Photo by Chuck Loftice

PRESS
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"From blistering bluegrass boot-stompers to crooning country waltzes, songwriter Joe Macheret displays the salt-of-the-earth acumen of a troubadour who’s crisscrossed the country in search of something that can only be sung. This is the music embedded in his bones, seeping to the surface through the speed of his fiddle and the meditative cadence of his six-string."
- Musiplug
On Yonderings:
"Yonderings is a flawless example of the remarkable music being lovingly created day in and day out by incredibly talented artists that more people really should know about."
- Americana Highways
"Yonderings is a master class in musicianship. Each layer stands artfully on its own, yet flawlessly blends together. The lyrics are crafted from the “write what you know” school of thought. Each story well lived-in like an autobiography set to brilliant music."
- The Amp
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
- 2010-2011 - 14th and 8th place finishes in the Galax Old Fiddlers Old Time Band Contest
- Cincinnati Entertainment Awards nominee for "Best Country Music"
- The Academy of Western Artists 2018 nominee for "Pure Country Group" and "Pure Country Album"
COUNTRY MUSIC ARMADILLO INTERVIEW
Always Open: In-Depth With Joe’s Truck Stop
https://www.countrymusicarmadillo.com/always-open-in-depth-with-joes-truck-stop/
"The greatest success often comes to those who keep their plate full, always looking to add more to it. Cincinnati’s Joe Macheret understands this, and even embraces it as he leaves his fingerprints wherever he can with his music..."
HERZOG MUSIC'S LOST ON THE RIVER PODCAST
Featuring Kent Butts, Keith Neltner, and Joe's Truck Stop
https://herzogmusic.com/lostontheriver/episode14

