Joe Pug is Circling the Wagons

The older I get, the more I’m interested in the scaffolding behind the art.

I’m more interested in the mentors who shaped us, the small private victories no one applauds, the ways fatherhood or faith rearrange a life. Joe Pug has always struck me as someone who thinks carefully about how a life is built, not just how a song is written. So I asked him a few lightning-round questions—not about records or touring—but about story, home, doubt, conviction, and the moments that linger longer than they should.

Who were the great storytellers in your life growing up?

There was an older artist in my hometown named Mike McMullen.  He worked at the Pentagon by day to provide for his family and produced abstract art on the weekends to feed his soul.  In the center of our town, he had a huge loft studio in the decommissioned elementary school.  I used to sit up there on weekends and listen to him spin yarns- political, spiritual, bawdy.  He truly had the gift of gab.  And still does!  I just ran into him not that long ago.

What’s a small moment from the last year that stuck with you more than you expected?

Watching my son throw his first strikeout in Little League.  He worked for months on his own to improve his speed and accuracy.  He got the other kid swinging.  It was months of work that culminated in a half-second.  There was a huge lesson in that moment about delayed gratification and sacrifice for him.

Is there a place that feels like home in a deeper way than just geography?

No.  Now that we live so much of our lives in the digital space, we can fool ourselves into thinking that the physical world around us is less essential than it is.  Home is an embodied place, a specific place.  

How do you take care of yourself when things feel heavy or uncertain?

I circle the wagons and get closer to my family.  I try to simplify the obligations that I have in my work and my personal life.  Then I break down my large problem into smaller problems, order them, and attempt to solve them one at a time.

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about in the last five years?

I've realized that I should have become a father sooner.  I thought living footloose and fancy free in my twenties was the only way to embark on a serious career.  In retrospect, I think becoming a father at a younger age would have only made me more serious about my work.

When you sit with friends late at night, and the conversation gets real, what subjects do you always find yourself drifting toward?

God, of course!  And a distant second would be how insufferable Eagles fans are.