Carlton was born in the sleepy, southern town of Whigham, GA, near the Florida border, just up from Tallahassee, Florida. His singing career began in the country church in which he was brought up. This early experience laid the foundation and ignited his dreams of becoming a professional singer.

When he was old enough to drive, but not yet of legal age, he started slipping into the honky tonks in nearby small towns. He became friends with the other older local musicians of the day, who let him sit in and sing with their bands. He learned a lot from those guys, especially about older country tunes and traditional artists.

Although, this was great experience, Carlton eventually wanted more than just the local venue provided. He moved to Nashville to try his luck in the music business. He felt he was getting nowhere, so he left after a year or so. Carlton says he then worked every bar and skull orchard in South GA, North FL and East Alabama, that he could get his band booked in, and there were a lot of them. He soon felt he was dying of boredom, drinking too much, and working himself into a deep rut.

When he made the decision to return to Music City, Nashville was kinder the second time around. Carlton first connected with Epic recording artist, Joe Stampley, who recorded six of his songs on various albums. Conway Twitty’s partner, L.E. White, at Hello Darlin Music, heard Carlton’s work and liked it. That led to a deal with Mercury/Polygram Records. Although Carlton says he loved the folks at Mercury, after a year, he decided to leave for more artistic freedom. After writing and recording independently for some time, he was signed as a writer by Baray Music, where he got a Moe Bandy cut.

Carlton quickly tired of writing and began wanting to record again. The Judds' personal manager, Ken Stilts, approached him about signing with a new record label that he was forming, called Dimension Records. At Dimensions, he had a release of the song, “Everything But The Lady.”

After Dimension, Carlton winged it as an independent writer in Nashville for a period of time. His close friend, the late Barry “Byrd” Burton of the “Amazing Rhythm Aces”, introduced him to Rod Smarr, the former guitarist for "Dr. Hook." He and Rod formed a group called “The Gator Dogs,” which was successful in Europe.

In 2001 Carlton met veteran producer Phillip Wolfe, and together they produced Carlton’s CD, "Music City Man", which was independently released. In 2022, the album was re-released by Afterstation Records. Carlton followed up by releasing two more albums through Afterstation Records; a self-titled album, in January of 2023, and his album “Gator Dogs” in July 2023.