Joe Holtzberger & Ted Lewallen first had the opportunity to play together in a local/regional band by the name of "Kentucky Strait" in the early nineties. While with this band, they had the opportunity to meet and play with various groups and artists and became Nashville recording artists. After the break up of this band, the two of them continued to play in bands together and apart but each time they were in different bands, something always seemed to bring them back together. Neither one of them have been able to find another band that has had the same goal as them. With the addition of Ted's son, Andrew Lewallen, on drums and veteran musician, Joe Binder on steel guitar and dobro, the sound they have so longed craved has finally came to be. So after sixteen years, they have decided to accomplish their goal; to write, record and market their own original country music and to entertain YOU, the fans.

You might wonder how they became known as Midland Rail. After deciding to take their journey, they were talking to a local graphic artist who was working on their promotional materials. They all decided that they needed a "good" band name. Their graphic artist told them that though it sounded strange, sometimes he imagined computer font names as being good band names. He did some researching and came up with about a hundred font names for them to look at, and even though most of the names were silly and didn’t strike a chord, the band must have looked over those name possibilities a thousand times. Then the night before their first show, they still needed a name so they could introduce themselves but still hadn't decided on a name. They went back to the list one more time, starting with the A's and when they finally reached the M's, there it was as plain as the print on the paper, "Midland Rail". And so that night their journey began as Midland Rail; to accomplish their goal of entertaining you, their fans, with great country music played their way… Midland Rail style!