artpower at uc san diego Performing Arts Season 2011-2012

Joe Pug & the HUndred Mile Band

w/ nik freitas & josh damigo

We are delighted to welcome back Joe Pug as part of the Broadside Ballads series this year. Having performed previously with Justin Townes Earle and Whispertown2000 as one of the strongest openers we have seen he is returning this fall on his very own first headline tour.

The day before his senior year as a playwright student at the University of North Carolina, Joe Pug 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 drove the longest route possible to Chicago. Working as a carpenter by day, the 23 year-old Pug spent nights playing the guitar he hadn’t picked up since his teenage years. Using ideas originally slated for a play he was writing called “Austin Fish,” Pug began creating the sublime lyrical masterpiece 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 dripped off of each note he sang.

In May of 2008, Pug played the first headlining slot of his young career to a sold out crowd at Chicago’s storied Schubas Tavern. Two weeks later he released the Nation of Heat EP, which has garnered near-universal critical acclaim and established him as one of the most respected songwriters of his generation. Pug has since played shows with Todd Snider, Susan Tedeschi, Kasey Chambers, and James Hunter.

With his debut album now finished, the options only get more numerous for Pug. Having released 'Messenger' back in February this year he is on the road again and we can't wait!