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UID:20130619T205214CEST-0715ptM4hS@artsboston.org
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DESCRIPTION:Event Name: Joe Pug | Rayland Baxter \nEvent Url: http://www.ar
 tsboston.org/event/detail/440797881/Joe_Pug_Rayland_Baxter_\nEvent Date Be
 gin: 2010-06-10\nEvent Date End: 2010-07-17\n\nFor the moment\, Joe Pug ha
 s it figured out\, career if not life: Just write the songs that have to b
 e written\, play them for anybody who will listen\, tour as if you had no 
 home. Oh\, and give your music away. Which isn't to say he won't be sellin
 g his debut full-length offering\, Messenger ( Released 2/16/2010 on Light
 ning Rod). But free is how he came to make it\, more or less.  It worked l
 ike this\, for Joe Pug anyhow: The day before his senior year as a playwri
 ght student at the University of North Carolina\, he sat down for a cup of
  coffee and had the clearest thought of his life: I am profoundly unhappy 
 here. Then came the second clearest.  Pug packed up his belongings and poi
 nted his car towards Chicago. Working as a carpenter by day\, the 23 year-
 old Pug spent nights playing the guitar he hadn't picked up since his teen
 age years. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing called 
 &ldquo\;Austin Fish\,&rdquo\; Pug began creating the sublime lyrical arran
 gements that would become the Nation of Heat EP.  The songs were recorded 
 fast and fervently at a Chicago studio where a friend snuck him in to late
  night slots other musicians had canceled. He was short on money\, but his
  bare-boned sincerity didn't require much more than a microphone and it dr
 ipped off of each note he sang.  The early rumblings of critical praise fo
 r the EP were confirmed when his first headlining gig sold out Chicago's s
 toried Schubas Tavern in 2008. As word spread\, Pug struck upon an idea th
 at would later prove to be one of the most significant in his young career
 . He offered his existing fans unlimited copies of a free 2-song sampler C
 D to pass along to their friends. He sent the CDs out at his own expense\,
  even covering the postage. Inside each package was a personal note thanki
 ng the fan for helping to spread the word. The response was overwhelming\,
  and to date he has sent out over 15\,000 CDs to 50 states and 14 differen
 t countries. Without access to radio\, Pug managed to turn his fans into h
 is very own broadcast system. The offer still stands\, and to this day it'
 s featured prominently on www.joepugmusic.com.  &ldquo\;Look\, in the end\
 , I just trust my fans\, and the nature of people in general. I need to pa
 y my bills like anyone else does. But I also don't think it's right to ask
  someone to pay $15 when they don't know what they're getting. So in a way
  by sending out these CDs\, I'm wagering that they'll like my music\, and 
 that if they do they'll come to shows\, buy CDs\, and help me spread the w
 ord even further. And so far I've been proven right. Without question\, th
 e more sampler CDs I send out\, the more music I sell.&rdquo\;  Nation of 
 Heat took on a life of its own\, passing from friend to friend and iPod to
  iPod. The crowds swelled and the media took notice. Tours with Steve Earl
 e\, M. Ward\, and Josh Ritter followed\, as did invitations to Lollapalooz
 a and the Newport Folk Festival. He crisscrossed the country incessantly\,
  traveling mostly alone in his 1995 Plymouth Voyager with no stereo or air
  conditioning. As the tours went on\, he became closely linked to the burg
 eoning indie-folk scene that was coalescing loosely around Pug and his you
 ng contemporaries in bands such as The Low Anthem\, Langhorne Slim\, and H
 orse Feathers.  After over 200 shows\, Pug took a brief respite to record 
 his full-length debut. If Nation of Heat heralded the arrival of a talent 
 to watch\, Messenger assigns Pug a deserved spot among the finest songwrit
 ers of his generation. From the opening notes of the title track that lead
 s off the record\, it's clear that the artist has no intention of retreati
 ng to the comfortable or the familiar. While the scathing war indictment &
 ldquo\;Bury Me Far (From My Uniform)&rdquo\; and the sparse\, poetic &ldqu
 o\;Unsophisticated Heart&rdquo\; illustrate that Pug is still a master of 
 the guy-and-guitar song\, it's the supporting cast Pug brought on board th
 at truly brings out the record's subtle beauty.  From the haunting\, ether
 eal pedal steel guitar that sneaks delicately under &ldquo\;The Sharpest C
 rown&rdquo\; to the barrelhouse rhythm section that propels &ldquo\;The Do
 or Is Always Open&rdquo\;\, it's clear that Pug is as comfortable explorin
 g this new territory as he is solo. &ldquo\;The first record\, it was a br
 eeze\,&rdquo\; he says. &ldquo\;Didn't even know we were making it\, just 
 me and a guitar&hellip\;the songs completely unadorned. This one\, it's li
 ke that thing where there's an explosion and you realize how many options 
 there are in the world.&rdquo\;\n\nStart time: 7:00
DTSTART:20100610T000000
DTEND:20100717T000000
LOCATION:
SUMMARY:Joe Pug | Rayland Baxter
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