Jake Bugg<\/a> rolling, bring up English football. Sitting in a room of his London home on a late Friday afternoon just before happy hour, Bugg is beaming as he jokes about Manchester City\u2019s fate and points to both a framed, signed game-used Wayne Rooney Three Lions jersey and a Notts County kit bearing his name on the front. This wasn\u2019t one of those shirts that you can buy and personalize. Rather, Bugg was the club\u2019s kit sponsor, a thrill for the lifelong Notts County fan.<\/p>\n\n\tTalking football aside, Bugg, showing up via Zoom, has said in the past that he doesn\u2019t fully like interviews. On this day, that\u2019s certainly not the case. When it comes to speaking about his career, Bugg is in a more contemplative mood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tSpecifically, he calls back to moments of isolation, and acknowledges times when he\u2019s been ignored or suppressed. He confronts all of these issues on the new Alamo<\/em>, his seventh studio album and first non-major-label release. They were difficult emotions and memories to parse, but he insists he\u2019s better off for it. Besides, as Bugg says: \u201cI got a record out of it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\tLooking back at his early music career, which started more as the hobby of a teen growing up in Nottingham and quickly turned into a profession, Bugg knows his experience is vastly different from that of others his age. In 2011, then just 16, he played the BBC Introducing stage at Glastonbury and saw his profile rise through prominent sync placements. Bugg\u2019s first album, his self-titled 2012 debut, drew comparisons to early Bob Dylan, with a gusto similar to the Gallaghers (he\u2019d go on to open for Noel Gallagher\u2019s High Flying Birds). <\/p>\n\n\n