Joe Pug made me cry

Thursday December 18, 2008

Categories: music

Hat-tip to Nate Barksdale and Andy Crouch at Culture-Making.com for introducing me to the musician Joe Pug today. Nate calls the song "Hymn 101" one of his favorites of the last six months, and I'll definitely be digging into the tune for the next six, and then some. There are a lot of singer-songwriters in the mold of Bob Dylan, but Pug is that in The Best Possible Way.

Maybe because I'm working on too little sleep today, maybe because "Hymn 101" made me mournful, maybe because I've been watching too many Christian Killers movies and my nerves are all rattled...for whatever reason, I teared up when I visited Pug's website and saw this request:

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

If you're insulted by the songs they loop on the radio all day [Ed: check.]. If you're

tired of your parents repeating the phrase "music meant something in my day" with baseless contempt.[check] Here's a chance to do something about it...

I want you to give my music away.

The thing is, there's no subsidiary of Viacom shoe-horning my latest single onto radio playlists. There's no carefully worded advertisements assaulting you at the bus-stop. There's no ringles.

You heard about my music from a friend. Simple as that. Which means you listen to music because of its substance, not its convenience. And that's precisely why I'm asking for your help.

Think of some likeminded friends who haven't heard my songs. Then let me know how many sampler CDs I should send you to give to them.

All I need...

Name
Mailing Address
Email Address
How many CDs you want.

Send the requests to nationofheat@gmail.com

Thanks for your interest, thanks for your help...

-Pug