Joe Pug has a voice that yearns to be heard. The Chicago-based songwriter was hardly on the map a year ago as he crisscrossed the U.S., yet now his songs are favorites overseas and his shows are hot tickets across America.
Like other great songwriters of his generations — Josh Ritter included — it’s easy to quote Pug’s lyrics to illustrate the point of his brilliance.
“Before we met I knew we’d meet.”
“We got $2 soldiers and $10 words.”
“I have come to test the timbre of my heart.”
Pug plays Daniels Hall at Swallow Hill tonight, and we caught up with him to talk about his delightful lack of a day job, his playwriting past and his desire for a full-length record.
Q: Was Chicago as a scene and a community integral to you growing as a songwriter?
A: It’s treated me really well. In the last year, Chicago has embraced me. I spent about three years working toward that, but even in smaller markets like Champaign and Rock Island (Ill.), Iowa City and Ann Arbor and Madison — they’ve all been supportive as well.
Q: Tell me about your last name. It seems unusual.A: It’s actually Pugliese, but Pug had always been my nickname growing up, and I figured I liked the ring of that. My family’s originally from Puglia, a region in Italy.
Q: This year has been huge for you — with festivals, larger rooms and more fans.
A: When it rains, it pours. You work and work and work, and everything sort of happens at once. It’s been great, and the coolest part about it, besides all the cool shows I’ve gotten to play and the cool people I’ve been able to meet and play with, is that I’ve been able to quit my job and make a living doing this.
Q: That’s huge. What were you doing?
A: I was a carpenter for a long time, but that fell on hard times and by the time I quit working a straight job I was working for a salvage company.
Q: Tell me about studying playwriting at the University of North Carolina.A: I learned a lot about writing there. And I learned that writing plays isn’t for me. It’s a much more detailed process, and I don’t know that I have the mind for that. Songs are only three minutes long, and they have their own self-contained logic and their own rules.
Q: You released an EP, and now you’re giving away another EP for free on your website. But what’s the story on a full-length record?A: The full-length is done and recorded. I heard the last mixes yesterday, and we’ll be sending it off to Kitchen Mastering in Durham, N.C., on Monday. In all likelihood, it’ll be out in January or February.
Q: Is it your grand artistic statement?
A: I’ve sat with these songs for a long time, but is it a grand artistic statement? I got wrapped up in that idea early on in writing this record, and the only way I made any headway was to let go of that.
Check The Post’s music blog, Reverb — reverb — for the full version of this interview.Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
JOE PUG.”
Singer-songwriter. Daniels Hall at Swallow Hill, 71 E. Yale Ave. with Meg Hutchinson opening. Tonight. 8 p.m. $14-$16.
