Joe Pug

Joe Pug, a singer and songwriter, crafts material that refreshes the country-folk archetypes first established by Bob Dylan and John Prine. Born and raised in Maryland, he took up guitar during elementary school. His earliest group formed after a challenge from his sixth-grade science teacher, who doubted that Pug and his classmates could assemble a set for a school dance. They succeeded with a workable cover of a song from the debut Foo Fighters album, which set Pug on his path; soon he began composing originals, already persuaded that genuine bands should perform their own songs. After high school he moved south to North Carolina for college, where he studied playwriting until his deepening commitment to songwriting eclipsed his interest in drama. He left school, settled in Chicago, and paid the bills as a carpenter while writing material and entering the city’s club scene. In 2008 he issued his first EP, Nation of Heat, through his own imprint.