A defining characteristic of folk music is that it dreams of a better place: a new boss, peace on Earth or a Big Rock Candy Mountain. Maryland singer-songwriter and podcast host Joe Pug agrees, but takes it one step further. All music, regardless of genre, has “this feeling of limitless potential. It speaks to us on a pre-intellectual level,” he says. Pug performs Nov. 14 at The Hybrid Gallery. Wielding an acoustic guitar and a harmonica, Pug’s been at it since 2010, appealing to folk and Americana connoisseurs alike. These days he hosts The Working Songwriter podcast. He’s touring behind last year’s album Live at the Old Town School of Folk Music, a collection of old-school coffeehouse folk and heartland rock, showcasing Pug’s charisma as a performer. He says his sets are surveys of his long career, and he has a new studio project which he’ll announce in January. “I’m always humming stuff into my voice recorder. I’m always writing down different lines,” Pug says. “A lot of people would be like, ‘I want to be Springsteen,’ or ‘I want to be whatever the biggest artist in the world is,’” he says. He prefers John Hiatt, the similarly acoustic-leaning ’80s-era singer-songwriter with a dry wit. “He’s just continued to work and put out an incredible clip of albums in his 60s and 70s. That’s the dream right there, man,” Pug says.

Joe Pug performs 7:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 14 at The Hybrid Gallery, 941 West Third Avenue. Tickets are $30 and available at TheHybridEugene.com. The concert is all ages.