Joe Pug & Willie Watson in Columbus

Joe Pug is an American singer-songwriter from Greenbelt, Maryland, whose literate, narrative songwriting has drawn regular comparisons to Bob Dylan and John Prine since his acclaimed debut EP Nation of Heat. After dropping out of college to work as a carpenter in Chicago, he built a following through free CD giveaways before signing to Nashville's Lightning Rod Records; he's since toured with Steve Earle and hosts the songwriter-interview podcast The Working Songwriter. He shares the bill with Willie Watson, a founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show who helped shape that group's old-time string-band revival before leaving in 2011 to pursue a solo path steeped in early American folk and traditional mountain music, documented on his Folk Singer albums. Both artists work in adjacent lanes of roots songwriting -- one rooted in Dylan-esque storytelling, the other in Appalachian tradition -- making for a stripped-down, lyrics-forward evening when the pair play Columbus on September 27, 2026.