Joe Pug took a circuitous route to his adopted home of Chicago. Leaving Maryland, he studied to be a playwright at the University Of North Carolina, but left his senior year on the table, headed north, took a day job in carpentry, picked up a guitar, and started writing songs.
Non-stop touring, 2 EPs and a recently released full-length album, “Messenger,” have boded well for the busy young musician. Pug was recently nominated for the 2010 American Music Association’s New & Emerging Artist Award.
The day after a well-received hometown show at The Vic in Chicago, The DePaulia caught up with Pug via the phone.
The DePaulia: Your just released new album, “Messenger” definitely has a different vibe than “Nation of Heat.” How do you describe the evolution?
Joe Pug: I think it’s just, you listen to different things at different times, and they impress themselves on you in different ways. I think any artist, the evolution is not something that’s planned it just sort of happens and you sort of follow your instincts and your tastes and it leads you to new sounds.
TD: I would say that you kind of straddle the line between a few different genres. Where would you place yourself among those?
JP: Well, you know, it’s hard to tell. I think this is just American music. This is folk. This is country. This is, I mean, a little bit of blues in there too. This is rock and roll. American music is becoming more and more one big thing.
TD: Your senior year of college in North Carolina, you visited Chicago, and then soon after packed up and moved your life here. What was it about Chicago that captured you enough to make that drastic of a life change?
JP: Well, Chicago is just, it was, it still is to me now a very, very romantic city. Just from the way it looks, just from the vibe it has. It just really captured my heart and imagination the first time that I came through, I just fell in love with the city. I’m still in love with Chicago.
TD: It’s easy to fall in love with, that’s definitely true.
JP: It sure is. In the same way that New Yorkers will talk about being in love with New York, I’m really in love with Chicago. I think a lot of Chicagoans feel the same. You’d be really hard-pressed to find a Chicagoan who bitched about living in Chicago.
TD: Do you plan on staying in Chicago for a while, or do you plan on moving somewhere with a larger music scene.
JP: I think Chicago has a plenty big music scene. You know, I’m a young dude, I’ll probably bounce around here and there, try and live some different places, hang out, but Chicago will always be my home base. I think I’ll always find myself returning to Chicago.
TD: Having gone from playwright to carpenter to wandering musician, what advice would you have for any students who are thinking of changing their direction, be it in their major or field of work?
JP: Well, I think you should always check in pretty often and see and make sure that you love doing what you do and you’re not doing it for other reasons and seeing whether it gives you energy or it takes energy away from you, and just be real honest with yourself. I mean, life is sometimes, sometimes you have to let people down, and that’s just a part of life and its natural, and the more you fight against that, the more heartache will be involved.