Important Life Lesson: Go early to concerts! I wrote yesterday about how I first saw Justin Townes Earle when he opened for Old Crow Medicine Show. So I went to see JTE at the Southern in Charlottesville … you see where this is going … and that’s how I discovered Joe Pug! HIS opening set was so compelling, I walked directly to the merch table and bought both his full-length albums, Messenger and Nation of Heat. Both are full of thoughtful, personal folk songs that contain some of the sharpest songwriting you’ll find anywhere, with vivid lyrics that stay with you long after the album has finished. I’m sad to say I just missed him headline at the Southern, but I have my fingers crossed that he’ll come to Richmond soon.