Joe Pernice
The Working Songwriter
Joe Pug
4.9 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 29 May 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our guest on the Working Songwriter this week hails originally from Boston, Massachusetts and now makes his home in Toronto. Joe Pernice got his musical start, though, in Northampton, MA. At the time, it was a hot bed of indie music creativity. His band the Scud Mountain Boys built a loyal following in the 1990s with a string of critically acclaimed releases. He’s recorded for Sub Pop, One Little Indian, Team Love, and New West Records.
Over the years Pernice has collaborated with a variety of blue-chip songwriters such as Aimee Mann, Neko Case, Norman Blake (of Teenage Fanclub), Jimmy Webb, Rodney Crowell, and Jim White. He’s also a man of many talents; his novel It Feels So Good When I Stop was published by Penguin Books in 2009. NPR calls him “a workhorse of a songwriter who delivers hard truths with the softest of whispers.” Brooklyn Vegan declared, “Few songwriters today imbue frustration and anguish into the sweetest of melodies as Joe Pernice.”
I got a chance to catch up with him a few months ago to hear about his musical journey so far.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of The Working Songwriter is brought to you by Yamaha guitars. |
| 0:05.3 | 2026 marks the 60th anniversary of Yamaha guitars. |
| 0:10.0 | That's six decades of innovation, expertise, and instruments that have inspired players like |
| 0:15.4 | John Denver, Bob Dylan, Elliot Smith, Billy Corgan, and Keith Urban. |
| 0:20.2 | From legendary FG red label guitars to modern innovations like their transacoustic series, |
| 0:26.9 | Yamaha continues to set the gold standard for acoustic guitar craftsmanship worldwide. |
| 0:32.3 | To celebrate 60 years of guitar excellence, visit Yamaha.com and stop by your local Yamaha dealer today. Hi and welcome to the working songwriter. |
| 0:57.7 | The show where today's best songwriters come to talk shop. |
| 1:00.7 | I'm your host, Joe Pug. |
| 1:02.5 | Each episode here, we host a distinguished guest, and we ask them to go deep on their |
| 1:07.5 | inspiration, on their process, on the general ups and downs of making a life |
| 1:12.0 | in music. |
| 1:13.1 | So, whether you're a grizzled veteran, still thinking that your new single can get |
| 1:17.9 | some spins on AM radio, or else a scrappy upstart, paying money to have AI bots, |
| 1:24.7 | playlist your songs on Spotify. |
| 1:26.4 | This is your show, because ultimately, it is what every writer seeks most, an ironclad |
| 1:32.3 | excuse to put off actually writing. |
| 1:52.5 | Hey, everyone, it's the last Friday of May, 2026, and I thank you for joining us. |
| 1:57.3 | This week's show is brought to you by Banzogle. Built by musicians and for musicians, |
| 2:02.8 | Banzogel is an all-in-one platform to build a beautiful website for your music. |
| 2:06.7 | I'm old enough to remember when you had to pay somebody called a web developer to get a website made. It would always be some guy named Alvin who drove a Mazda Miata with racing |
| 2:12.5 | stripes and who was always trying to sell you muscle relaxers that he stole from a Jouko football coach |
... |
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