Joe Pug @ Bluebird

While taking in Joe Pug at the Bluebird last night I couldn’t help but think about the thrust of this review. [Writing about folk artists is, excuse me for this, like writing about paper: it's either lined or not, and it's either hole-punched or not. In other words, it's not exciting.] What angle can I push? His obvious affinity for Bob Dylan, right down to Pug’s hair and clothes and his first-person tales? His easygoing, relaxed delivery? His more-than-adequate guitar playing, itself a mixture of flamenco and conventional strumming?

My mind worked through his set. I’m not good at folk. How would I present Pug?

Then he signed off and played Hymn 101, and I thought “He is what he is, and he’s good. His music is honest and simple, and that’s a great thing.”

[audio:http://www.joepugmusic.com/audio/JOE_PUG-Hymn_101mp3.mp3]

I met him after his set and he was as accessible and honest as his music leads one to believe he’d be. He agreed that when a guy’s on a stage with a guitar, it’s pretty much a lock he’s a) a fan of Bob Dylan and b) a folk artist. There’s no way around it, Joe Pug admitted it with a smile, releasing me from my jail of an overthought show review.

Pug doesn’t care much about labels, it’s clear, when he shrugs and says he plays folk, or Americana, or country. The Chicagoan resident/Maryland native listed John Prine and Walter Hyatt as influences, and said when he’s not on the road or in Chicago, he’s at home in Maryland with his family charging his batteries.

In the end, Pug is as disarming as his music is touching. This RMMB reviewer will see him play again.

You can get Joe Pug’s fine Nation of Heat EP from CD Baby or iTunes.

[My apologies for the reviewer-centric framework of this article. It was the best way to show you Joe Pug.]