It's been 4 years since Joe Pug quit his day job as a carpenter, but his remarkable rise in the music world has been driven by the same hard-worn work ethic. His path has been an unusual one, which has often challenged the traditional rulebook of the music industry, but even now as he prepares to release his second album The Great Despiser, it has always been characterized by one prevailing idea: Find a way.

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After dropping out of college the day before he was to start his senior year, he moved to Chicago and picked up the guitar he hadn't played since his teenage years. The songs that he wrote would eventually become the Nation of Heat EP, a self-released gem that has gone on to sell over 20,000 copies. With no publicist and no access to radio, Pug decided to recruit his fans to help spread the word. He took his most popular songs, printed up CDs, and offered to send them free of charge to anyone who wanted to share his music with their friends. And share they did. "Suddenly we'd be rolling into towns that we'd never been before and there would be crowds there who knew the songs. Our fans essentially became like a radio station for us, and they still are. "

The momentum attracted the attention of Nashville indie label Lightning Rod Records, who signed Pug and released his full-length debut Messenger in 2010. The album was met with critical acclaim, with Paste Magazine saying "Unless your surname is Dylan, Waits, Ritter or Prine, you could face-palm yourself to death trying to pen songs half as inspired as the 10 tracks on Joe Pug’s debut full-length." He toured incessantly behind the album, which included appearances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and the Newport Folk Fest as well as tours with Josh Ritter and Levon Helm. A higher profile did nothing to dull his independent streak, though. He experimented extensively with ticketing his shows directly with very low service fees, and often none at all. "Our guiding principle has always been: if we take care of the fans, they’ll take care of us."

In addition to Pug, The Great Despiser features various acclaimed musicians, including Sam Kassirer (Josh Ritter, Langhorne Slim) on piano, organ and marimba, Califone's Jim Becker on guitar, as well as backing vocals from The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn on the album’s title track. "With this album, we finally created arrangements that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the lyrics. It was a real privilege to work with musicians who were able to further the songs' narratives with their instruments. The songs were written in the same way but were realized with sharper color." The Great Despiser is out April 24, 2012 on Lightning Rod Records.