This story is featured in CityBeat’s Feb. 7 print edition.
With his sixth roots record coming out in March, Joe Pug’s aspirations of becoming a master songwriter are easily within reach. Born in Maryland but now living in Austin, Texas, the former carpenter turned singer/songwriter got his start opening shows in 2009 for Steve Earle, who also helped mentor Pug during that period.
Influenced by Earle and John Prine among others, Pug plays acoustic Americana with a folk tilt, and his excellent, new Sketch of a Promised Departure should go far in providing him a higher profile in music. This record highlights Pug’s poetic lyricism and plaintive voice on ten cuts. With its thematic song cycle, Departure deals with a young man’s passage into adulthood and the role of religious faith in his life. Many of the songs express Pug’s own faith as a touchstone here.
“Treasury of Prayers,” for instance, offers a modest list of blessings reminiscent of Dylan’s “Forever Young” in its plainspoken reverence. With its bright acoustic thrum, “What is Good Will Never Change” delves into contemporary historical issues such as removing public statues and its effects on a community.
For a decade now, Pug has narrated his own music podcast, The Working Songwriter. In this audio labor of love, he interviews other songwriter pals like Earle, Rhett Miller and Brandon Flowers. Pug explains the genesis of the show on his website (theworkingsongwriter.com), “There was one podcast in particular that I wanted to hear: working songwriters talking to one another about life on the road, life in the studio and life in the writer’s room. But that show didn’t exist. So I decided to make it myself.”
Joe Pug plays the Southgate House Revival on Feb. 23 at 8 p.m. Info: southgatehouse.com.
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This article appears in Jan 24 – Feb 6, 2024.