Album Review – Pug Johnson’s “El Cabron”
#510.2 (Honky Tonk), #550.5 (Tejano/Mexican-inspired Country), and #569 (Cajun-inspired Country) on the Country DDS.
One of the reasons that Texas music presents such a rich and vibrant sound is due to how it sits as a crossroads, both culturally and geographically—most notably with Mexico on its southern border, and French Cajun influences to the east in Louisiana. On his new album El Cabrón, singer and performer Pug Johnson explores these regional dialects and their intertwined nature, resulting in tasty and sometimes unexpected moments that has many buzzing about their next favorite artist.
It’s not uncommon for a Texas country album to include a Tejano-flavored track or a fun little little Cajun tune. But for Pug Johnson, he begins with these influences as primary ingredients, along with traditional country as well, with some songs working exclusively in one style, and others blending all three. Horns and accordion help accommodate this in places, while country sounds set the primary foundation.
Then when it comes to the songwriting, Pug institutes character studies into a host of interesting and often greasy individuals one might interact with in the late night bar scene. This includes a gringo crossing over the border to charm the señoritas out from under the locals, a guy who gets in the doghouse for visiting a cat house, and a dude who must compel his date to blow into his breathalyzer to take her home. It’s assumed some of these songs aren’t autobiographical, though some could be based off of actual characters or events.
Meanwhile, the music helps evoke the setting for these escapades, drawing from Pug’s upbringing in Beaumont, Texas, which might as well be Louisiana to many. When you hear a song like “Buy Me a Bayou,” it’s not hard to understand the inspiration. But Pug utilizes the full geography of the Lone Star State, evoking the funny name of the north Texas town “Waxahachie” at one point, and also referencing the border town of Ciudad Acuña, known for it’s legendary night life.
Pug Johnson certainly presents a distinctive listening experience with El Cabrón, and avoids the well-worn grooves of traditional country and Texas music along the way. You’re not going to find many records with the ambitiousness of this one to mix influences together so aggressively, nor the personnel to pull it off like Pug and his collaborators have done here. Johnson co-produced the album with Ryan Johnson and Paul Walker.
But there is a shticky sort of feel to this album, while the songwriting sometimes fails to go deeper than the surface. Unlike Charley Crockett who also blends roots genres, there’s less of a synthesis of various influences here, and more a layering of them on top of each other. Charley Crockett is a character too as opposed to an authentic representation, but he’s more easily able to get you to suspend disbelief. For Pug Johnson, the shifts in sound and singing style are often so abrupt, it’s easier to spy the slight-of-hand behind them.
Arguably the best song on the album, and the one with the most streams so far is “Believer.” It perhaps shows off the compelling contours of Pug’s vocal delivery the best out of the entire set. But it’s also this smooth, R&B-style song that doesn’t really jive with the rest of the album, or the theme of exploring the musical influences of Texas. If you pick any individual song from El Cabrón, you’re likely to enjoy it. But as an album, it ultimately lends to more questions than answers about who Pug Johnson is as an artist.
With the song “Believer” specifically, you can see him making that predictable R&B shift we’ve seen so many country and Americana performers make over time. But then you listen to the straight country songs like “Hole In Me” and “Pipeliner Blues” and you feel like you’ve found your next favorite country artist. The next to last song “Change Myself Today” shows a depth to Pug’s songwriting that the rest of the album fails to illustrate.
Pug Johnson is still a young artist, with ample opportunities to answer some of the questions El Cabrón presents, while also opening up various sonic avenues he could pursue to do so. There also happens to be some really great songs on this album. Perhaps just like Texas, Pug Johnson’s is just too vast, and too diverse to pin down in a simple notion.
8/10
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April 21, 2025 @ 2:18 pm
So glad to see Pug get a plug on this site. Definitely check out his previous release Throwed Off and Glad. I think the songwriting has grown here on the new album, but the first one is what got me hooked. Also, listen to Last Call again, but this time notice that he got Jesse Daniel’s steel player on the record!
April 21, 2025 @ 2:50 pm
This is my favorite discovery in some time. I see the comparison with Charley Crockett (although I’m puzzled by the authenticity policing with either guy as though every rhinestone-clad singer was supposed to be an autobiographical songwriter). “Because of the Cathouse (I’m in the Doghouse)” is one of the greatest song titles ever, that cracked me up.
April 21, 2025 @ 7:08 pm
So much good on this album. Good review, señor. Hope this guy gets some traction.
April 22, 2025 @ 3:05 am
I heard this cat on the radio and immediately thought what the SCM take on it would be. Glad it didn’t long to find out. Good stuff!
April 22, 2025 @ 4:35 am
Am loving him after checking him out after he was referenced in another comments thread. I love the diversity of the album and think his voice reminds me of Wayne Hancock and Hank III, and to me that’s good. I also agree with his comparison to Crockett, that’s with two T’s.
Love the accordion and horns as well, similar to how Joe Ely’s recording had that sound which I loved. The great Ponty Bone was an integral part of his sound.
Looking forward to more from Pug!
April 22, 2025 @ 4:49 am
If you want to guess the rating on an album without reading the review you wouldn’t go wrong guessing either an 8.0 or 8.1. Interesting distribution on the last 30 or so reviews.
What I notice is we get a lot of pretty good music but not a lot of great music, and this seems to back that up. The hypothesis is that the good producers get pulled into the machine, working on profitable projects versus worthy ones. I admire the effort of all the self produced music out there, but the right producer with the right act are the ingredients for greatness. As good music comes back into demand maybe we will get better and better production going forward?
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9.0
April 23, 2025 @ 6:13 am
…nice illustration job, sir. independently, i had the same kinda feeling the other day regarding the lack of great albums so far in 2025. then again, “great” has to be rare by definition – pyramids just don’t stand on their tips. until now, the turnpike (still rising) and lola kirke records are the top of the crop in my book with Matt Daniel’s and willow avalon’s following behind. if i’ve been overlooking one or two, don’t hesitate to remind me of it.
looking into potential americana aoty nominees, which will be announced in a few weeks time, i realised only with some delay how great an album johnny blue skies’ (sturgill simpson) “passage du desire” of last summer is. better late than never.
pug johnson’s here is rather agreeable too.
April 25, 2025 @ 12:27 pm
That’s a good list and similar to mine.
Maybe revisit the Justin Wells I dinged it from my history Friday release day but had a few lines stuck in my head Sunday and went back, it’s all that.
And Olivia Ellen Boyd’s record has spun a lot. Unless Kristina Murray knocks it, “Bound to lose” will be my favorite this year. Lotsa women can get big loud. Way fewer can convey vulnerability believably ala JLW. She does both, remarkable.
April 22, 2025 @ 5:16 am
Thank you for the Pug Johnson review. I got into Pug listening to his last album Throwed Off and Glad. His ability to mix different sounds and styles while maintaining his own identity, and the cleverness and humor of his lyrics, drew me in almost immediately. Yes he has a voice outside the normal of country music, and no he doesn’t often try to be some poet savant. But his vocal style grows on you and lends to the humor of the lyrics. Pug Johnson is keeps his music interesting with a nice blend of Honky Tonk, Texas, Cajun, and little of everything else blended in.
The song Believer was the first pre-release single, most likely why it has gotten the most listens. Before its release Pug stated that it was different for him because it was a song he wrote specifically for his wife. It was a thank you song for her standing with him through the hard times in his pursuit of his music dreams. He also asked her to be in the video so she would be the star of the song written for her. I thought it was touching in an industry where most hire models to play the role in their videos, and often keep the role of their spouses in the background. I think this song is more of an outlier than an indication of a future direction.
Overall I’m a big fan of this album, and the one before. Hope people give Pug a chance. He’ll grow on you.
April 22, 2025 @ 6:30 am
I had never heard of this dude until Sunny Sweeney played Last Call on her radio show a few days ago. I cracked up at some of the lyrics and knew I had to check out more by him. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the album.
April 22, 2025 @ 10:24 am
Interesting on first listen. Certainly a variety of different sounds which make for an interesting listen. Not convinced on first listen but definitely worthy of a further listen.
April 24, 2025 @ 6:32 am
This album is very fun. I probably agree that it’s not super coherent of an album kinda like the article mentions. But it’s a very fun collection of songs and I’m enjoying it a lot.
April 27, 2025 @ 8:55 am
This album freaking KILLS!!!! I cannot believe the low number of comments here. This is my favorite album since I can’t remember when.
The arrangements are superb, the melodies are so fantastic, his voice is spot on for this album, the Mexican sounds and the steel just kills. This is GOLD!