As he made his way north from Washington DC to New York City in January 2025, songwriter Joe Caruso found himself stopping at each rest stop along the way to furiously scribble down lyrics. Driving through Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, words and phrases came to him in short bursts of inspiration, and he would immediately pull off the highway to type them into his smartphone before he forgot them. “I honestly thought I was done recording my first album” he says, “but this idea appeared one day, and I felt like I just really needed to finish it.”

The song that wouldn’t leave him alone, ‘7 Hours a Day,’ was a Stones/Black Crowes inflected tune that was also deeply autobiographical. Not only did it become the lead off track on his debut collection “Tales from Two Cities,” “7 Hours” served as both a reckoning and a declaration of purpose.

I’m over-educated and I got too much to say, Tried to chase my passion but life got in the way, Spent a decade punching in every day, To climb a corporate ladder stretching further away, Now I’m working hard to not do much and still get paid, So I can play my guitar 7 hours a day. 

The character in “7 Hours” is emblematic of the “Tales from Two Cities,” album; simultaneously looking back over a past he can’t change and seeing a present and future that he is determined to live differently. It is a theme woven throughout Caruso’s debut. 

“The songs on “Tales from Two Cities,” either originated or were completed while I was living in New York and Washington, D.C.” he says. “These two cities have been the twin poles of my life geographically, socially, emotionally… ever since I was born.”

Drawing from inspirations ranging from 70s/80s FM rock radio to Americana, folk and classic singer-songwriter fare, Caruso takes listeners on a journey that echoes the sound and feel of the classic records that formed him.

“Sole Survivor” has the hooky intensity of “Empty Glass”-era Pete Townshend and “Acadia” soars with harmonies and violins reminiscent of “The Jayhawks.” The Latin-tinged “Waiting on the Wind” contrasts beautifully with the Nilsson-esque ache of “Shy Girl.” “Found out Early” feels like 70’s Hall and Oates, crossed with ELO while “Thinking About You Now” could easily be a lost early Squeeze track. “New York City” – a gritty homage to his hometown, reflecting the city’s intense, front-page, in-your-face dynamism – was inspired by his father, a news photographer, whose photos periodically appeared on the front page of the city’s legendary tabloids the NY Daily News and The New York Post.