joe pug

After a rowdy evening watching the Felice Brothers over at Habana, I met up with Joe Pug for a Lone Star before heading to a late night loft party on Brazos where he was invited to perform a short acoustic set.  It turned out to be the perfect ending to a long day at SXSW.

There were only 20 people there, including longtime Joe Pug supporter and blogger at Songs:Illinois, Craig Bonnell.  Sometime last year, Craig hosted a house show and invited Joe to perform and shortly after I started to hear a lot of talk about Joe Pug around Chicago.

Joe wowed the relaxed audience, playing three or four tunes including “Hymn 35″ from his fantastic EP Nation of Heat.  My apologies for the poor video quality, the lights were dim and color video got a bit too grainy.

Video: Joe Pug – Hymn 35 (Live at SxSW 2009)

If you haven’t been introduced to LaundroMatinee, let me do the honors. Dodge from MOKB created this website dedicated to live video sessions and he’s had some great acts in recently, including O’Death, Blitzen Trapper and two artists that will be performing at Stimulus Package, our Wednesday 15 hour SXSW Day Party at The Paradise Cafe. Joe Pug and Justin Townes Earle go on at 3pm and 5pm respectively.

Joe Pug performs an unreleased war ballad called “Bury Me Far From My Uniform” and Justin Townes Earle fingerpicks his way through “I Don’t Care.”

Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From My Uniform (LaundroMatinee Sessions)

Hear more Pug here.

Just Townes Earle – I Don’t Care (LaundroMatinee Sessions)

Hear more JTE here.

Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From Uniform

Joe Pug – Bury Me Far From My Uniform from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Justin Townes Earle – I Don’t Care

Justin Townes Earle~I Don’t Care from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

Joe Pug has been spending quite a bit of time in the studio with HearYa Live Session producer, Steve Shirk, recording some new material. For those of you that loved Joe’s debut Nation of Heat EP (it was our top EP of 2008), here’s a taste of what you have to look forward to. The track performed with Billboard entitled “Unsophisticated Heart” is actually more sophisticated and sincere in its vocal delivery.

Check out the interview and you’ll hear Joe talk about life without a label and he even name drops our boy Shirk.  I’m really looking forward to catching him for the first time at SxSW.

So yeah…We’ve got this SxSW party and it’s on Wednesday from 11am until 2am in the morn and Joe Pug will be there. More details to come.

Okay, here’s one more detail. Justin Townes Earle is also playing.

Musikanto is the latest alt-country, folk, Americana singer-songwriter to emerge from Chicago in recent years, joining the likes of Joe Pug, Tom Schraeder and His Ego and the now defunct Cracklin Moth. I had to name drop since they’ve all been through the studio to record live sessions.  Musikanto was in the studio last week and his session is being mixed by Shirk as we speak.

The debut album Ghost Pain is an addictive twangy rock affair in the same vein as bands like The Old 97’s and Ryan Adams. The album is a solid effort from beginning to end and it’s accessibility will satisfy both the alt-country crowd and the more casual pop-rock aficionados looking for something catchy.  He’s releasing it independently, but don’t let that fool you. No corners were cut and this guy can put pen to paper and write great songs that are backed by more than just an acoustic guitar.  You’ll hear horns, piano and healthy backing vocals to jazz up his sound.

Formely performing around Chicago with the band Sleeper Car, Musikanto has set out to make a name for himself. Ghost Pain will do just that. Check back next week to hear the Musikanto live session.

MySpace

Musikanto – Misty Morning

Musikanto – I Ain’t Your Rock

What a day…

Inauguration Day is over and Joe Pug just put out a fitting video for “Nation of Heat” off of his amazing debut EP of the same name. If you’re down in Austin for SXSW, make sure to track Joe down and catch a performance.

The video was directed by Peter James who was the winner of a fan-submitted video contest.

Joe Pug – Nation of Heat (From the HearYa Live Session)

Video: Joe Pug – Nation of Heat

Here’s to the best shorties of the 2008! I’m really in love with this batch of albums and we’ve shown lots of love for all of these artists over the year. Joe Pug was the biggest surprise, arriving as a submission in the mail. The songwriting on Nation of Heat just flat out blew me away. I don’t think we can say anything more about The Avett Brothers or Fleet Foxes without breaking some guy codes.

We were also lucky to have Joe Pug, Dead Confederate, and Samantha Crain all in the studio for live sessions in 2008.

1. Joe Pug – Nation of Heat

Joe Pug – Hymn 101

Joe Pug – Call It What You Will

Check out the Hearya Live Session with Joe Pug.

Joe Pug – Hymn 101 (via LaundroMatinee)

2. Fleet Foxes – Sun Giant

Fleet Foxes – Mykonos (Live at the Bowery Ballroom NYC)

3. The Avett Brothers – The Gleam II

The Avett Brothers – Murder In The City

The Avett Brothers – Bella Donna

4. Dead Confederate – Self-Titled

Dead Confederate – The Rat

Check out the HearYa Live Session with Dead Confederate.

Dead Confederate – The Rat (Live on Conan)

5. Samantha Crain – The Confiscation

Samantha Crain – Get The Fever Out

Samantha Crain – The River

Check out the HearYa Live Session with Samantha Crain.

Samantha Crain and The Midnight Shivers (Live w/ Paste)

Sorry if you were expecting 100% Dan Auerbach ingredients, but I’ll have a few commercial interruptions. Our boy Joe Pug just released a music video that features him ambling down a dusty road, performing to a handful of strangers at a run down watering hole. Hymn 101 is such a great song. I’m glad the video is simple.

Make sure to catch our live session with Joe Pug, if you haven’t already.

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Here are his upcoming tourdates:

9/10 South Bend, IN  *
9/18 Chicago, IL  Park West >
10/3 Chicago, IL   The Hideout (w/ full band)
10/5 Charleston, WV   Mountain Stage
10/10 Indianapolis, IN   Radio Radio #
10/11 Pittsburgh, PA   Mr. Smalls &
10/12 Westhampton, NY   Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center ^
10/14 Buffalo, NY   Univ. of Buffalo Performing Arts Center ^
10/15 Harrisburg, PA  Whitaker Center^
10/23 New York, NY   CMJ Music Marathon @ Arlene’s Grocery
11/1 Ames, IA   The Maintainance Shop +
11/2 Dubuque, IA   Jansen Music Hall at Clark College+
11/14 Columbia, MO   Bluebird Music and Arts Festival

* with Robert Randolph
> with Kasey Chambers
# with Justin Townes Earle
^ with Susan Tedeschi
& with Railroad Earth
+ with Pieta Brown

If you’re in Chicago tonight, do yourself a favor and get to the Metro. Three HearYa live session alums are going to share the stage for an incredible night of music. Ha Ha Tonka, Joe Pug and Backyard Tire Fire (in the studio today) will all be in attendance.

Here’s what the night will sound like:

Exclusive: Joe Pug – Hymn 101 (from the Joe Pug live session)

Exclusive: Ha Ha Tonka – Caney Mountain (from the Ha Ha Tonka live session)

Backyard Tire Fire – The Places We Lived (from their just released album The Places We Lived)

And while I’m at it, let me say a few words about Backyard Tire Fire’s new release, The Places We Lived. I’ve read BYTF’s praises on other blogs for the past year or two and I’m admitedly late to the party. Their prior album, Vagabonds and Hooligans found the guys square in the alt-country genre. The Places We Lived, however, has a grown up pop sound with more varied country, blues and jazz influences.

The band mates still aren’t taking themselves too seriously, but they’ve undergone a spit-polish, kind of like when Wilco migrated from A.M. and Being There on up to Summer Teeth. I’m really excited to hear the output after today’s session and I’ll be wallowing in some self-pity since I no longer live in Chi to enjoy the show.

Not too long ago Drinking Buddy wrote about Pete Molinari, wondering if he was the second coming of Bob Dylan. I appreciated the comparison. It seems that Dylan references abound on this site, recently for bands like Leatherbag and The Felice Brothers, but there will never be another Dylan. I’m just not sure if any musician will ever be that prolific again. Chicago’s Joe Pug shows some serious promise on his debut album, Nation of Heat.

There will never be another Dylan just like there’ll never be another Springsteen, but their influence and spirit will live and breathe in other musician storytellers that can pluck a guitar string, blow into a harmonica, and write songs that have something interesting to say. Which brings me to Joe Pug, straight from the loins of Dylan and The Boss (sorry, I just had a baby so now every artist has to be the child of two other male musicians for some reason).

Joe is a Chicago carpenter and songwriter. He just released an EP called Nation of Heat that had an immediate impact on me. Listening to this album is like waking up on Sunday morning, slipping into a tattered pair of jeans and an old t-shirt. The album is a possession that can become your friend. Kind of like Jack Daniels.

I found it hard to make it past the first track, “Hymn 101,” just because it is so damn good. After taking that song off repeat and listening to the rest of Nation of Heat, I knew I’d be addicted. Here I am, almost a week later, and the album has still not left my player. It will be one of the best EP’s of 2008.

Rocco Labriola, formerly pedal steel/lead guitar in the now defunct Cracklin Moth, is playing with Joe Pug so I’d recommend checking them out around the local Chicago circuit.

MySpace | Website

Joe Pug – Hymn 101

Joe Pug – Call It What You Will

Joe Pug – “Hymn 101″

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Joe Pug – “Speak Plainly Diana”

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