5 Fantastic Solo Songs From The Hold Steady’s Lead Singer Craig Finn

Many people know him as the singer and chief songwriter for The Hold Steady, one of the most revered indie bands of the past two decades. But now and again, Craig Finn works in a solo album, and those records represent nothing less than pure singer/songwriter brilliance.

Finn is up to five solo albums now. We thought we’d help the uninitiated by introducing you to one wonderful song from each of those records. If you know his solo stuff, consider this a refresher course.

“Not Much Left of Us” from Clear Heart Full Eyes (2012)

Although his songwriting was typically sharp and he adjusted well to the more subdued arrangements of his first solo album, it still felt a little like Finn was getting his sea legs. But there are more than a few high points nonetheless, and the album goes out on an undeniable high note with this beauty. A few subtle country and western touches accentuate Finn’s tale of a broken relationship featuring two broken people. As usual, he adds some telling details to the tale, before stepping back and delivering a stark assessment: Sometimes lonely is easy, sometimes together is too tough.

“Sarah, Calling From a Hotel” from Faith in the Future (2015)

For his second solo album, Finn connected with producer Josh Kaufman. That’s been a fruitful partnership, as Kaufman has been at the helm for the last four records by Finn. They settled for sparser arrangements on this record, such as the wispy acoustic guitar undergirding this song. All the better to throw the spotlight on his storytelling. Just listen to what he accomplishes here in the span of barely three minutes. He manages to capture the narrator’s longing for what he once had with Sarah, while also turning the story into a kind of thriller as we find out the danger of her new relationship.

“It Hits When It Hits” from We All Want the Same Things (2017)

One of Finn’s hallmarks is writing for characters who might be screwups, but at least they’re quite aware of that fact. But on this beauty from We All Want the Same Things, the hero, if we want to call him that, seems to be kidding himself about the staying power of what seems like nothing more than a one-night stand. Finn throws down some lyrical breadcrumbs we can follow, such as the girl’s seeming hostility and the guy’s pill-popping, that suggest this love, as he calls it, might not be all it’s cracked up to be. Shimmering keyboard effects make this song as pretty as it is subtly sad.

“Her With the Blues” from I Need a New War (2019)

The Hold Steady is known for a kind of bruising, bar-band musical approach, which sort of leads to the characters being Type-A folks to match the intensity. In Finn’s solo work, the music is subtler, often hushed, so it makes sense the characters are a bit more passive in the stories, reacting sometimes futilely to their circumstances. You get the sense of that in “Her with the Blues” as the couple at the heart of the story focuses on whatever they can to fill up the emptiness, unable to admit their relationship is slowly imploding.

“The Amarillo Kid” from A Legacy of Rentals (2022)

As usual, Finn gave us a bunch of wonderful songs on A Legacy of Rentals from which we could choose for this article. For example, “The Year We Fell Behind” is a stellar depiction of how financial pressures can take a toll on a relationship. But we already have a few ballads on the list, so we thought we’d add a little pep with this one, which features a kicky backbeat and some synth blips for color. The peppier pace doesn’t hide the fact this is still one of those hard-luck tales Finn handles so well, as the narrator keeps crossing the country and taking shady jobs while he tries to find some sort of deliverance from his lot in life.

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