{"id":16262,"date":"2019-06-27T14:40:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T20:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1808529"},"modified":"2019-06-27T14:40:06","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T20:40:06","slug":"how-joe-pugs-exit-opens-the-door-for-his-reentry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/music-news\/how-joe-pugs-exit-opens-the-door-for-his-reentry\/","title":{"rendered":"How Joe Pug\u2019s \u201cExit\u201d Opens the Door for His Reentry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"byline\">by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/bonaguroa\/\" title=\"Posts by Alison Bonaguro\" rel=\"author\">Alison Bonaguro<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\">17m ago<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\">Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/craXeuztlAI?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/craXeuztlAI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\">[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<p>Folk singer-songwriter Joe Pug hasn\u2019t released an album in four years. So is it some kind of twisted irony that his first song off his upcoming album is called \u201cExit\u201d? Or is \u201cExit\u201d an apt way for Pug to enter into this chapter of his career?<\/p>\n<p>His songwriting has matured some since 2014\u2019s <em>Windfall<\/em>, but his gift for turning poetry into lyrics (sometimes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/ByU7xpvlMJo\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">handwritten<\/a>) is as intact as it ever was. But it\u2019s his collaboration with his producer and co-writer Kenneth Pattengale, one half of folk duo Milk Carton Kids, that has the music sounding like the time off did him good.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hard to define the exact genre \u201cExit\u201d might fit into. Americana? Yes. Folk? Yes. Soulful rock? That, too. Pug knows exactly how to paint an acoustic picture of heartbreak, American style. All with just his guitar and harmonica, and his trademark, open-mic-night sound.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had been sending Kenneth demos for nine months and he hadn\u2019t picked a single one for the album,\u201d Pug told CMT.com. \u201cI was beginning to think that maybe our partnership wasn\u2019t going to work out. But when I wrote \u2019Exit\u2019 one afternoon, I knew it was a keeper. And so did he.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt became the skeleton key for the rest of the record.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"photo\" id=\"3e0763c6\">\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"><noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;img&quot;}\"><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.85&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=480\" srcset=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=481 481w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=660 660w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=768 768w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=980 980w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1200 1200w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1500 1500w, http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:file:http:shared:cmt.com\/news\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/06\/Joe-Pug-JP_TFIC_Studio_2-1561666969.jpg?quality=0.8&amp;format=jpg&amp;width=1800 1800w\" title=\"Joe Pug - JP_TFIC_Studio_2\" class=\"js-srcset-img shortcode-image\" alt><\/p>\n<p><\/noscript><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The tunes that fill up the rest of <em>The Flood in Color<\/em> album \u2014 out July 19 \u2014 came to Pug after \u201cExit\u201d was done. \u201cThe songs that I wrote after that were all much closer to the mark. I\u2019m so glad that we didn\u2019t settle for something earlier. Even though at the time I was ready to fire my composition book from a cannon into the sun,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>After years and years of moving from place to place, Pug says he pulled images from his time in Maryland, North Carolina, Illinois and Texas and penned them into his \u201cExit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost of the imagery from the song comes from scattered recollections of my early years driving across the country. That was the time between being a kid and growing into a man, the time where you go out to a spiritual desert by yourself. It was difficult at the time but very necessary,\u201d he said of his early attempts of adulting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow enough time has passed that I remember it very romantically.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BykabaxlArs\/\" data-instgrm-version=\"12\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>Fans can pre-order Pug\u2019s <em>The Flood in Color<\/em> \u2014 on Orange Crush vinyl or on a CD \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/joepug.merchtable.com\/?#preorder\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\">Alison makes her living loving country music. She&#8217;s based in Chicago, but she&#8217;s always leaving her heart in Nashville.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1808529\/how-joe-pugs-exit-opens-the-door-for-his-reentry\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Alison Bonaguro 17m ago Embedded from www.youtube.com. [embedded content] Folk singer-songwriter Joe Pug hasn\u2019t released an album in four years. So is it some kind of twisted irony that his first song off his upcoming album is called \u201cExit\u201d? Or is \u201cExit\u201d an apt way for Pug to enter into this chapter of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16262","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-12 09:31:13","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16262\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}