(http://www.josephakins.com/) For many years, Dr. Joseph Akins (pronounced "Ache-ins") has lived a parallel life between being a college professor and a performing and recording artist. Beginning at age twelve, Joseph played with his father’s band for many years at a wild honky-tonk nightclub in Tennessee. Joseph says they played both kinds of music “Country and Western”! However, wanting to be a rock star like most teenagers, Joseph hit the road with the rock band Blaze at high school graduation. But after two years, he enrolled in college to study composition and jazz piano. He studied with the legendary Jerry Coker at University of the Tennessee for five years and then received a Masters degree from Radford University in Virginia. Following, Joseph had a turning point in life and began to explore the spiritual side of music. He began to record and perform “heartfelt music” for the piano. Since, Joseph has released three solo albums with the most recent album reaching #7 on the Zone Music Reporter Top 100 Radio Airplay Chart. For the last several years, Joseph has been touring the country performing his heartfelt music in churches, homes and performance halls often sharing the stage with David Lanz, Liz Story and David Nevue of Whisperings solo piano radio. In addition, he is an award-winning associate professor at the prestigious Department of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University. He completed a doctorate of education in 2006.