About the Hosts
Greg Gilbertson
Founder of Feast & Sing
Greg Gilbertson is a multi-instrumentalist musician, singer-songwriter, theology teacher, and the founder of Feast and Sing. In 2008 Greg took third place at the prestigious International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship at the walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, KS. He lives a quiet life in Chippewa Falls, WI where he spends his time raising his three daughters with his wife, teaching theology to high schoolers, and enjoying the Northwoods.
Singer-Songwriter and host of “The Working Songwriter” podcast.
Joe Pug is an American singer-songwriter from Greenbelt, Maryland. He has released two EPs, as well as the albums Messenger, The Great Despiser, Windfall, The Flood in Color, and The Diving Sun.
While working as a carpenter in Chicago after dropping out of the University of North Carolina, Pug wrote and recorded what would eventually become his debut EP, Nation of Heat. Its literate lyrics received widespread acclaim and Pug's unorthodox promotional strategy of distributing free CDs to anyone interested in sharing his music resulted in the EP selling over 20,000 copies. After touring with Steve Earle in 2009, Pug was signed by Nashville indie label Lightning Rod Records and released Messenger in 2010. After moving to Austin, Pug released The Great Despiser in 2012.
Pug's acclaimed narrative songwriting has led critics to draw comparisons between his work and that of John Prine and Bob Dylan. His stated influences include John Hiatt, Warren Zevon, and Beck, as well as literary figures such as John Dos Passos, John Steinbeck, Raymond Carver and most notably, Walt Whitman.
Co-Founder of the First Things Foundation and host of the “Heavy Things Lightly” podcast.
John Heers is the former History Chair at Seacrest Country Day School and a co-founder of First Things Foundation. John worked overseas as a water resource manager in Mali, serving the Peace Corps for nearly three years. He studied history and education at Columbia University, earning a Masters Degree in 1993. By 1995 John was once again overseas working in the Georgian Republic overseeing the delivery of emergency relief to widows suffering the effects of the war in Abkhazia. After nearly nine years teaching in the South Bronx and Harlem in New York City, John took his family of five (now six) to Haiti where he and his wife assisted and taught at a tiny Orthodox Christian church in Port au Prince. Upon return he was invited to assist in the creation of a new independent high school, Seacrest Country Day School. John now works full-time for FTF.