Craig Finn - Clear Heart Full Eyes

Craig Finn has always had a reputation as an accomplished lyricist. In fact, he is as much of a poet as he is a Rock and Roll musician. His lyrics invoke an emotional connection that is evident as the crowd sings along at Hold Steady gigs. After all, this is the man who weaved the suicide of John Berryman into “Stuck Between Stations”. Not surprisingly, Clear Heart Full Eyes brings Finn’s poetic distinction to the forefront.

To be sure, the front man for Hold Steady has not forgotten the importance of the music. For this project, it tends to be more mellow and introspective, but is powerful none the less. My friend David, who has a daughter that is a budding musician at 13, recently made the point that musicians are sometimes far too serious and afraid to make people laugh. In fact, humor is a quality he is trying to encourage in the music of his daughter (Katie Deter). Humor has certainly never eluded Finn, as shown by the song, “New Friend Jesus”. He also invokes religious imagery often on Clear Heart Full Eyes. Consider this verse from “No Future”:

“I’ve been reading about the Calvary. The crucifixion still gets to me. I guess Golgotham meets the mount of execution. The best advice I got comes from ‘ol John Rotten. He said ‘God save the queen’ no future for you , no future for me”.

Finn is a modern day creative genius, and, Clear Heart Full Eyes is the perfect conduit to display his prodigious creativity.

Best of 2008

This is my Finaa list of the year. The Truckers are #1 and went wire to wire in the top spot. No small accomplishment. Give me your thoughts and your top picks:

1) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3) Kaey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
4) Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
5) Tift Merrit - Another Country
6) Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
7) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
8) Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
9) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
10) Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
11) Kaiser Chiefs - Off with Their Heads
12) The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers
13) Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology
14) Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
15) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
16) The Waybacks - Loaded
17) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
18) Band of Heathens - Self-Titled
19) Shawn Mullins - Honeydew
20) The Whigs - Mission Control
21) Ashton Shepherd - Sounds so Good
22) Jaon Boland & the Straggler - Comal County Blue
23) J. J. Grey & Mofro - Orange Blossoms
24) Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
25) Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
26) The Beautiful Loser Society - Aim Low
27) Yarn - Empty Pockets
28) Griffin House - Flying Upside Down
29) The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
30) John D. Hale - Lost
31) Drew Emmitt - Long Road
32) Infamous Stringdusters - Self-Titled
33) Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy
34) Cherryholmes - III
35) R.E.M. - Accelerate
36) Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
37) Joey & Rory - The Life of a Song
38) Ray Lamontagne - Gossip in the Grain
39) B. B. King - One Kind of Favor
40) British Columbians - Self-Titled
41) Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
42) The Waifs - Sundirtwater
43) The Bridge - Blind Mam's Hill
44) Brett Dennen - Hope for the Hopeless
45) Donna The Buffalo - Silverlined
46) Heybale - The Last Country Album
47) Tejas Brothers - Self - Titled
48) Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
49) Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
50) Sierra Hull - Secrets
51) South Austin Jug Band - Strange Invitation
52) Eleven Hundred Springs - Country Jam
53) Jim Lauderdale - Honey Songs
54) Dr. Dog - Fate
55) The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
56) Hank Williams III - Damn Right Rebel Proud
57) Chatham County Line - IV
58) Sonny Landreth - From the Reach
59) Graham Lindsey - We are All Alone in This Together
60) Have Gun Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall as Giants

Video: DBT & Hold Steady Live in Chicago

November 14th the "Rock & Roll Means Well Tour"

Best of 2008 So Far

This is my Fourth list of the year. It is based on releases through August 19th. The Truckers are still #1 but almost got knocked off by The Hold Steady who debuted at #2. The other top debuts are Reckless Kelly at #5, Alejandro Escovedo at #7 and Chris Knight at #8. Anyway as always leave comments and tell me what an idiot or genius I am. I've been called a lot worse. The list follows:

1) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3) Tift Merrit - Another Country
4) Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
5) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
6) Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
7) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
8) Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
9) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
10) The Waybacks - Loaded
11) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
12) Shawn Mullins - Honeydew
13) The Whigs - Mission Control
14) Ashton Shepherd - Sounds so Good
15) Band of Heathens - Self-Titled
16) Drew Emmitt - Long Road
17) Infamous Stringdusters - Self-Titled
18) Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy
19) Sonny Landreth - From the Reach
20) Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
21) Griffin House - Flying Upside Down
22) The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
23) The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers
24) John D. Hale - Lost
25) Jakob Dylan - Seeing This
26) John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedom
27) Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
28) The Waifs - Sundirtwater
29) Donna The Buffalo - Silverlined
30) Gary Louris - Vagabonds
31) Heybale - The Last Country Album
32) Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
33) Sierra Hull - Secrets
34) South Austin Jug Band - Strange Invitation
35) Eleven Hundred Springs - Country Jam
36) Jim Lauderdale - Honey Songs
37) Dr. Dog - Fate
38) The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
39) Black Crowes - Warpaint
40) Beck - Modern Guilt
41) Del McCoury Band - Moneyland
42) Chatham County Line - IV
43) Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Self-Titled
44) Have Gun Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall as Giants
45) Allison Moorer - Mockingbird
46) R.E.M. - Accelerate
47) Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
48) Widespread Panic - Free Somehow
49) John Hiatt - Same Old Man
50) Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
51) The Avett Brothers - Gleam II
52) Rhonda Vincent - Good Thing Goin'
53) Ben Sollee - Learning to Bend
54) Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues
55) Ralston Bowles - Rally at the Texas Hotel
56) Paul Thorn - Long Way from Tupelo
58) George Strait - Troubadour
59) American Gun - The Mean and the Machine
60) Twilight Hotel - Highway Prayer

Honorable Mention: Whisky Myers, The Weepies, Shelby Lynn, Wes Charlton, Jeb Loy Nicholls, Mando Saenz, North Mississippi All-Stars, Tim O'Brien, Black Mountain, Carlene Carter, James McMurtry, Willie Nelson, Jackie Greene, Langhorne Slim, The Hollyfelds, Malcolm Holcombe, Jason Collett, Firewater, Tab Benoit, Marah

MOG Interivews Craig Finn of The Hold Steady

Rock, Religion, Redemption and Forgiveness are the subjects.

Check it out on MOG TV

The Hold Steady - Chelsea's Cafe Baton Rouge, La 8-7

The Hold Steady are known as a quintessential live band. I never doubted this but until I saw it for myself I never realized how true it is. Since I am currently Sequestered (but not subpoenaed) in Baton Rouge during the weeknights, when I saw that The Hold Steady was playing at a cozy venue like Chelsea's, I could not say no. (To hell with auditors who need info early the next morning.) In the Case of The Hold Steady seeing is believing. These guys have as much fun as any band touring. In fact they have as much fun as their audience.

Chelsea's had to be one of the smaller venues they played on this tour. This intimate college bar located not too far away from the LSU campus proved to have great acoustics and provided a perfect environment. Speaking of the environment, it would not be Louisiana without the humidity, which created another important ingredient to a live Rock N' Roll show, sweat. In fact, Craig Finn paid homage to Louisiana's French heritage by declaring it, "Hotter than a French whorehouse in here." The crowd on hand was dominated by Hold Steady fans who seemed to know the lyrics to every song. They opened with the song "Constructive Summer" from the new album Stay Positive On this song when Finn sang, "Raise a toast to old Joe Strummer. I think he was our only decent teacher." The crowd (myself included) instinctively raised our bottles and toasted along. Which confirmed another statement in that song which declares "our songs are sing-along songs."

Craig Finn interacted well with the audience. Dancing around on stage, he looked like a cross between Steve Martin dancing on the front porch in The Jerk and Pee Wee Herman's "Tequila" dance. It was so quirky and lacking in Rhythm it was cool. The coolest member of the band though was keyboardist Franz Nicolay. He was wearing a fedora and black suit that made him look like a mafia don. His stage presence and facial expression give the band its' panache. Not to mention Franz is an accomplished keyboardist. Just as impressive was Tad Kubler on lead guitar. At one point he played a solo on the 12-string neck of a bad-ass double neck guitar. His guitar solos were an unexpected surprise.

The song that came off the best live was surprisingly "Stay Positive" the title cut off the new record. The set was composed mainly if material off of the new record and Boys and Girls in America. "Massive Nights" from that release really stood out. Not surprisingly, they saved "Stuck Between Stations" for the encore. This crowd pleaser had everyone singing so loud Craig Finn could have let the crowd take over. In my opinion, The Hold Steady represent everything that makes Rock great and their live show only enhanced that opinion.

This cut from Letterman will give you a feel:


This review also appears on Twangville

Signposts: Along the Information Super Highway

Cold War Kids - "Something Is Not Right With Me", the first single off the second album, Loyalty to Loyalty, is streaming now on
MySpace The song will be available as a free download on RCRDLBL.com starting Thursday July 24.

Teddy Thompson, who released his 4th studio album, A Piece Of What You Need, last month, has a new video for his single "In My Arms." Teddy is the son of British folk icons Richard and Linda Thompson. This is a great song!

Check out more songs from the Album on MySpace

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn's Top 10 Pet Peeves on The DL

The Old 97's on The DL

WIDESPREAD PANIC TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE GEORGIA MUSIC HALL OF FAME

Frrom their publicist:

Athens, Ga. , July 18, 2008 - Widespread Panic will be inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame at the 30th Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards Show on Saturday, September 20th in Atlanta , GA. The show will broadcast live on Georgia Public Broadcasting and will include a special performance from the b and . Past inductees include Georgia musicians including Ray Charles, Gladys Knight, R.E.M., and the Allman Brothers B and as well as industry professionals such as music attorney Joel Katz and record label owner Antonio “L.A.” Reid. "Sharing this honor... with so many of our greatest musical influences, is something I'm sure none of the B and members imagined when we first started making music together. September 20th is going to be a truly special day for the entire Widespread Panic Family," says John Bell, vocalist and founding member of Widespread Panic.

Kelly gives us 2 new genres on Twangville/Gobblers Knob and while you are there check out Tom's Mixtape

Hold Steady Street Date

Paste Magazine reports that The Hold Steady will release their new album Stay Positive on July 15th.

"Written on the road and recorded in New York and New Jersey, the 11 new tracks feature "more dynamics, different instrumentation, more complex arrangements, and not always hiding behind raw volume," lead singer Craig Finn said in a statement. That "different instrumentation" includes doses of banjo, talk box and harpsichord, undoubtedly in addition to the band’s long-beloved sonic combination of accordion, guitars and beer."