For singer-songwriter Joe Pug, it’s all about playing lush Bob Dylan-y folk songs that are passionate and poetic, simple yet emotionally complex. His debut full-length called Messenger released in 2010 showcases Pug’s romantic style of playing songs, as he weaves his harmonica throughout and sings lyrics that make you think, as he does in “How Good You Are.” “Everything that you were meant for, everything that you were born to do, does not need you to do it. Someone else was born to do it, too.” And it’s the kind of lyrics that you’ll feel everywhere, whether you expected to or not.
Joe Pug’s early success came once he went on tour with the legendary Steve Earl. He then moved to Austin to be closer to his musical inspirations, went on a lengthy tour that included Lollapalooza, Newport Folk Festival, and Bonnaroo, and then he released a second album called The Great Despiser in 2012.
Pug took a couple of years off after that, reflecting on life and purpose and his time spent on the road, and then in 2015 he released Windfall–an album that introduces a more soulful modern-country sound to his songs, especially on tracks like “The Measure” and “Burn and Shine.” This album is much shinier than a lot of his earlier work (especially as heard on his first two EPs with popular songs like “Hymn 101” and “Dodging the Wind”) but it’s the same singer-songwriter at the heart of it.
Knitting Factory
4/21
8 p.m.
$20
Leave a Comment