Joe Pug, ep. 125

Basic Folk

Joe Pug explains that the venn diagram of his fans and the people he'd like to have a beer with is almost exactly a single circle. The prolific troubadour has been organically gaining admirers one by one throughout his entire musical history. When he began, the Maryland songwriter would not only give away copies of his music, but he would send multiple copies to Joe Pug converts, so they could distribute among their friends. This and many other similar acts have earned him a loyal fanbase that allow him a career in music (versus carpentry, which is his other trade). His success can be attributed to learning to "keep it skinny" in terms of preserving resources in his work in addition to his timeless charm and sharp sense of humor. Not to mention, his songwriting is reminiscent of some of literature's finest like Walt Whitman, John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver and Cormac McCarthy, who he counts as large looming influences.

There is a legendary tale about the night Joe Pug quit college and ran off to Chicago to pursue his musical dreams. It was the eve of his senior year at University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he had been studying playwriting. Pug experienced this intense feeling that he just needed to go to Chicago and write songs and play music. He speaks to how that moment translated into the mystical for him and how his relationship to his intuition has been since that moment. He also speaks about touring with Steve Earle, one of his early big breaks, and what he's learned about keeping it clean and sober on the road, something he still struggles with. We talk about his incredibly adored podcast "The Working Songwriter," where he talks shop with some of today's finest songwriters. And we get into his latest, The Diving Sun, a collection of various studio sessions with producers Duane Lundy and Kenneth along with new songs recorded in quarantine. I loved talking to him... hope you enjoy Joe!

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