Joe Pug is originally from Maryland and came to Austin, Texas years ago to be in and around the storied Texas songwriting tradition. He has two studio EP’s, most notable being Nation of Heat in 2009. He also has three albums, Messenger in 2010, The Great Despiser in 2012 and Windfall in 2015. 

Paste Magazine said this of Pug, "In lesser hands, songs of this nature could take on the tone of self-help books, maxims of dubious value. But Pug's honesty and wordplay combine to levitate the songs over those empty, cliched realms."

He credits not only musicians like Dillon, Beck and M. Ward as his influences but also literary giants like Fredrick Beekner and Walt Whitman.