Justin Townes Earle / Joe Pug
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Date: Fri, Feb 19, 2010 Showtime: 9:00 PM Days until show: 11 Ages: 16 & Over On sale now Ticket Prices*: $13.25-$15.00 |
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Sophomore releases, such a bumpy road they tread, with expectations being expectations and the fickle nature of hype and short attention spans, how can they live up to the excitement generated by a stellar debut? Within the first song on Justin Townes Earleâs second album Midnight At the Movies, you just know youâre hearing something special, that you are party to the unknown and exhilarating paths being explored by an artist on the creative ascendancy. Midnight At The Movies displays an adeptness and musical sophistication of remarkable, organic breadth and is as lyrically sharp as a loverâs tongue as she is walking out the door.
If you didnât look at the songwriting credits, youâd swear the songs were penned on the stoop of a one-pump filling station in dust bowl era Oklahoma, the smoke-filled song and dream factories of Tin Pan Alley, or at the back door of Tootsieâs Orchid Lounge in Nashville. Justin effortlessly taps the romanticism imbued in the beaten-soled travelogues and mythos of Woody Guthrie; the lounging around a campfire at a work camp and the edgy angst of a wintry Minneapolis (yeah, just try to get that mandolin line from the cover of the âMatsâ âCanât Hardly Waitâ out of your head.)
Midnight at the Movies is held firm by Justinâs astonishing vision and conviction, yet roams oâer the vast landscape of American music without so much as a stumble. From the deft ear for orchestration and ambient arrangement reminiscent of Randy Newman right through, somehow, the countrypolitan cool of Lambchop and hipster retro vibes of Palace Brothers or Magnetic Fields (simply look to the title track for proof), to the amber smooth swing of the Ray Price smilinâ thru the heartache school of country (âWhat I Mean To You,â âPoor Foolâ), to the immediacy and disarming simplicity of country blues (âThey Killed John Henryâ), to songs that tell a novelâs worth of emotion in a few lines (âMamaâs Eyesâ), Justin Townes Earle pulls it all off with a confidence and candor that tells the listener that the daring exhibited on his debut album The Good Life only hinted at the growth to come.
Since the release of The Good Life in early 2008, Earle has been a busy man, occupying himself with such activities as performing on the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Fest, Chicago Country Music Festival, Americana Music Awards, Down Home in Norway and his debut on the Grand Ole Opry. He toured non-stop for the past year including pump-priming appearances in the UK, Australia and Scandinavia. Features on NPRâs Morning Edition, Mountain Stage and World Café caught the ears of millions of listeners and admiring ink ran in publications like New York Times, LA Times, Nashville Scene, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, American Songwriter and No Depression. The Good Life debuted on the Billboard Country Chart first week, no small feat for a new artist.
Midnight at the Movies was produced by RS Field and Steve Poulton at the legendary House of David studio. Justin was joined by his touring partner Cory Younts as well as longtime cohorts Bryn Davies, Pete Finney, Josh Hedley, Brian Owings and Skylar Wilson.
Joe Pug
For the moment, Joe Pug has it figured out, career if not life: Just write the songs that have to be written, play them for anybody who will listen, tour as if you had no home. Oh, and give your music away. Which isnât to say he wonât be selling his debut full-length offering, Messenger ( Released 2/16/2010 on Lightning Rod). But free is how he came to make it, more or less.
It worked like this, for Joe Pug anyhow: The day before his senior year as a playwright 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 pointed his car towards Chicago. Working as a carpenter by day, the 23 year-old Pug spent nights playing the guitar he hadnât picked up since his teenage years. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing called âAustin Fish,â Pug began creating the sublime lyrical arrangements 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 didnât require much more than a microphone and it dripped off of each note he sang.
The early rumblings of critical praise for the EP were confirmed when his first headlining gig sold out Chicagoâs storied Schubas Tavern in 2008. As word spread, Pug struck upon an idea that 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 CD 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 thanking 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 different countries. Without access to radio, Pug managed to turn his fans into his very own broadcast system. The offer still stands, and to this day itâs featured prominently on www.joepugmusic.com.
âLook, in the end, I just trust my fans, and the nature of people in general. I need to pay my bills like anyone else does. But I also donât think itâs right to ask someone to pay $15 when they donât know what theyâre getting. So in a way by sending out these CDs, Iâm wagering that theyâll like my music, and that if they do theyâll come to shows, buy CDs, and help me spread the word even further. And so far Iâve been proven right. Without question, the more sampler CDs I send out, the more music I sell.â
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 Earle, M. Ward, and Josh Ritter followed, as did invitations to Lollapalooza and the Newport Folk Festival. He crisscrossed the country incessantly, traveling mostly alone in his 1995 Plymouth Voyager with no stereo or air conditioning.
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 songwriters of his generation. From the opening notes of the title track that leads off the record, itâs clear that the artist has no intention of retreating to the comfortable or the familiar. While the scathing war indictment âBury Me Far (From My Uniform)â and the sparse, poetic âUnsophisticated Heartâ illustrate that Pug is still a master of the guy-and-guitar song, itâs the supporting cast Pug brought on board that truly brings out the recordâs subtle beauty.
From the haunting, ethereal pedal steel guitar that sneaks delicately under âThe Sharpest Crownâ to the barrelhouse rhythm section that propels âThe Door Is Always Openâ, itâs clear that Pug is as comfortable exploring this new territory as he is solo. âThe first record, it was a breeze,â he says. âDidnât even know we were making it, just me and a guitarâ¦the songs completely unadorned. This one, itâs like that thing where thereâs an explosion and you realize how many options there are in the world.â
With his debut album now finished, the options only get more numerous for the 25 year-old-singer. The remainder of 2009 will be spent touring Europe before he returns home to hit the road in support of Messenger.
