It's safe to say Craig Finn is the only rock star who wears Twins jerseys on stage and sings about Twin Cities-area driving directions in his songs. His main band, the Hold Steady, marked their 20th anniversary last year with both a tour and a handsome coffee table book, The Gospel of The Hold Steady: How a Resurrection Really Feels, which Michael Hann wrote alongside the band.
But over that time, the longtime Edina resident and Breck graduate has built up a large and respected body of work as a solo artist. That's largely what he'll draw from when his current “Solo Songs & Stories” tour heads to St. Paul’s Fitzgerald Theater this Saturday, after a month of European dates and an East Coast swing.
We talked to Finn over Zoom last month about his tour, his music, how feels about the Pohlads possibly selling the Twins, and whether Tim Walz is a Hold Steady fan.
How was the European leg of the tour?
We've done two European legs, actually. We did it in February and I liked it so much. I went back in September and it was great. It's a different muscle, you know? Obviously, you've seen Hold Steady shows. You've been at Massive Nights… to draw an easy and much bigger parallel, it's the difference between Bruce on Broadway and Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band at Giants Stadium.
It’s a lot of stories. It's a lot of explaining what people are going to hear. But in that sense, it's really nice. I've really enjoyed it. I've always thought of myself as a storyteller. When things are going at 100 decibels, some of that story might not connect or some of that story might get a little lost. So this is a way to really kind of cue in on some of that stuff.
And for a lot of it, I play a nylon-string guitar, which is even—this is inside baseball—but even less interfering with the words. So it really puts the words of the songs up front. And also the stories, you know, in some cases, I introduce the song just about as long as the song is or tell a story that is related. So it's kind of a monologue with music. It connects on a different emotional level, but it certainly connects.
And you're playing stuff from throughout your career?
Yeah. I think I’ve even played some Hold Steady songs. With the Hold Steady I mainly write the words, so I don't really feel comfortable going out and playing solo unless I wrote the song. There are a few songs in the Hold Steady catalog that would qualify for that, ones with the most simple music. But yeah, it is really everything. And even playing some new songs because I'll have a record out next year.
So the Minnesota date, you’re playing the Fitzgerald Theater—do you have much history there?
Not really. It's the biggest show of the tour, the biggest room. It was sort of like, where can we do that’s kind of elevated that has a few seats. You know, that was something we were interested in. It's not like it's not exactly the show for the 7th Street Entry. So kind of thinking of an elevated place.
I don't have a lot of history. I did Wits, there was a show John Moe did for public radio called Wits, and I did a thing there with Chuck Klosterman and myself and John. Quite a while, over a decade ago, but that was the first and last time I think I was in that room. But it’s obviously a beautiful room, and we were just in downtown St. Paul, for the festival: The Hold Steady played the Minnesota Yacht Club, so I did walk by the Fitzgerald, but not a huge amount of history personally in the room, but obviously in the Twin Cities, more than enough.
Last year was the 20th anniversary of the Hold Steady. There was the book, there were the shows, there was a lot of stuff you did. The book really got into everything—it was a warts-and-all sort of thing, but it really got what you guys are about. Tell me a little bit about the reflections of the 20th anniversary of the band.
Yeah, first of all, the book, one thing I was really excited about with the book was that it was honest. I'm a connoisseur of rock 'n' roll biographies, and so many are sort of setting the record straight in a way that doesn't seem exactly honest and [might] glaze over some parts of the band that they aren't necessarily proud of.
And I think ours did a good job of doing that. I mean, one of the results of the book was, and when we all read it, it put us in touch with what an accomplishment it is to be in a band for 20 years and a band that's, you know, middle class. People say, "How are the Stones still together?" But it seems like when you can throw huge amounts of money at every problem, maybe it isn't quite as impressive.
One of the things that everyone's most proud of is that the friendships are all intact. And we still make new music and we still enjoy the shows. And ultimately, the most crazy, cool, and important thing about the Hold Steady is the community that's around the band. There's a tangible community at the shows and people who know each other, people who only really know each other through the shows, people who have become friends internationally because of the band.
To me, it's strange, because that's something we talked about doing when we started the band. Like we wanted a band that people felt a part of, but I'm not exactly sure how we pulled it off. That's a little bit of a mystery. And I always loved those bands. I love the Clash, you know, 'cause I think that the Clash or Springsteen are two of my favorites. And those are also bands that you say like, "Oh, there's this huge fan base that really feels a part of the shows." We did that somewhat successfully and it has become this amazing thing.
We just did three shows in Atlanta, and you see a lot of people who have traveled, a lot of people who have these friendships based on the band. And to me, it's the most beautiful part of it.
And you recently started a podcast, I believe?
Yeah. I've been doing it like two, maybe two years now and it's really been great. I started it on the last solo record. [The podcast is] called That’s How I Remember It.
And the last solo record, A Legacy of Rentals, had a lot to do with memory and also how we remember people and also how we build stories and tell ourselves stories about our own memories and some of those... some things sometimes can be wrong. There's a great book called Night of the Gun that David Carr wrote, you know the Minneapolis journalist, who I was friendly with. And that was very influential in my thinking about memory, because he really examines his own memory and finds some stuff that maybe isn't quite as he remembered it.
I wanted to do something along those lines. And I started talking to people about memory, I thought maybe I'd do, like, 10 people. These days, you put out your record, it can really get a bunch of press the first week. But the nature of this is that by the next week, a bunch of more records come out and then it kind of goes away. So I thought, maybe this is a way to stretch out the conversation. And what I found is I really enjoyed it.
These days, as you probably know, there’s less and less outlets for people to talk to. So people were anxious to talk. And now it's sort of just become this thing where we get a lot of pitches. And it's interesting, you know, we've had great, great people. George Saunders, Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Patterson Hood, Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, just great, great conversations with people who are, to be honest, some of my heroes.
I remember that David Carr book, it was kind of a long time ago that I read it, but I remember just him telling all these stories where it's like, they broke into the Win Stephens car dealership, and that’s right where I grew up.
They got kicked out of The Cabooze, in sort of the story that ends up titling the book, that ended up being the Night of the Gun.
How much do you get to Minnesota these days, other than when you’re touring? I don’t know how much family you still have there.
I don’t have family there, so it’s mainly for tour these days. But the good news is, it’ll be twice this year through touring. But I am going home next week, for this Fitzgerald show, just because it’s a little bigger room, I am having a couple different guest musicians play with me for this show. So I am going to do a little rehearsal next week.
I have to ask you about Tim Walz. When he got picked as VP, there were a lot of stories about how he’s in touch with Minnesota music. He was really into the Replacements and all that stuff. Has he been to a Hold Steady show or a Craig Finn show, and have you had any interaction with him?
You know, I have no reason to believe that he has, except that it seems like as a Hüsker Dü fan and a Springsteen fan, if he hasn't, I'd say he'd probably like it. But that's all I know. He may be just a little older for it—he's what, 60, right? So who knows if he's still going to shows. He’s certainly invited. Got a spot on the list for him. But I can’t confirm that he even knows who the Hold Steady is.
You might need a Secret Service sweep, depending on how the election goes. [Editor's note: poorly!] As for the Twins, they had the year-end collapse, and now there’s the news that the Pohlads are looking to sell. What are your thoughts on the Twins? Have you gotten to watch a lot?
It was a painful year. I gotta be honest, I traveled a lot this summer, and I never quite pulled the trigger on the package so I could watch in Brooklyn. So I didn’t have a connection to this team as much. They never quite felt real, even when they were winning, to me. And the whole season was marred in disappointment when the Pohlads decided not to invest in the success of the year before. It's probably a good thing we're getting new ownership. I mean, for no other reason if that I just read an article that very few Major League Baseball teams get down to the third generation, and that's where we're at.
I think a new look would be good. I will always love the Twins, and I will always be emotionally connected to their success. But maybe it needs a new freshening up or something. I still have one of the greatest stadiums in baseball, so that's great. And we've got some great players, obviously. But a commitment to winning? I'd like to see it.
I see you’re wearing a Wolves hat.
Yeah, my Wolves fandom, I got to be honest, I've never been a huge NBA guy until last year, and I went crazy. I did get the NBA package, and I watched every game. And let me say about the KAT trade… I'm disappointed because he was my favorite player. I'm open-minded that it might make us a better team. That's where I'm at with it.
I know you guys talk a lot about Ybor City, especially in the Hold Steady lyrics, and I know they just got hit with a hurricane. Were you keeping an eye on Ybor City, and making sure your haunts were OK?
I’m always keeping an eye on Ybor City. I do have friends in that area. So I was keeping an eye on it. But yeah, Ybor City is close to our hearts. And that, you know, that's something that started with me just thinking it was an interesting thing to say in a song, I'd never been there.
Then as a self-fulfilling prophecy—as there've been many—sure enough, after a record or two, they were like, "Hey, why don't you come down here and play?" And we did, and played there quite a few times since the Hold Steady started now. So that was something, you put in a song, and then you get to go there.
There's only a few places in Hold Steady songs that I put in there that we didn't end up going in. One is Modesto, but that song's called “Modesto is Not That Sweet,” so I don't think we'll get an invitation anytime soon.
When I saw you guys in Philly, there was a guy in front of me whose shirt said, “Philly’s full of friendly friends who will love you like a brother,” I don’t know if that was official merch or not.
That's probably bootleg. But it’s funny, when you start to get to the bootleg T's, and I actually have other friends in bands I've talked about this with, there's something very flattering about when you see the bootleg merch.
Especially if it's like... I remember being in London and walking up to the venue, we were playing and I'd gone for a walk and I came back and there's all this bootleg merch on a blanket out front, you know, a guy selling it. And I was like, this is the greatest thing ever. We've gotten to the point where people are bootlegging our merch and selling it outside the venue? That's making it in some way.
Speaking of merch… Racket sells a bumper sticker advertised as “The Hold Steady Aren’t Local,” and it says “KEEP HONKING! I’M LISTENING TO NYC-FORMED BAND THE HOLD STEADY.” Do you consider the Hold Steady a local band in Minnesota?
It’s tricky, I have to admit. Because we formed, as the bumper sticker says, in New York City, with a bunch of people who have ties to Minneapolis. And I am very much a Minnesotan who sings a lot about the streets I know best. So you could argue it both ways.
I would say that I don't make a claim that we're a Minneapolis band, however, I very much appreciate the love that comes from the Twin Cities. Some of our biggest shows have been in the Twin Cities. Maybe our biggest… Bob Mould played with us, so it's not totally fair, at the State Fair show we did last year.
I like to consider us to have two hometowns and maybe that's a cop-out. But that's very much how I feel.
I know you have this tour, and you have Massive Nights coming up in December. What’s on tap for 2025?
There will be more Hold Steady shows. We’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of our album Separation Sunday, and Minnesotans will have a chance to celebrate that with us, details forthcoming. And then I have a solo record coming out probably in the late spring. So there'll be touring on that.
We’ll have kind of our standard Hold Steady year, and then as well as touring on the solo record, which was a record I'm really excited about. I'm just finishing now.
Craig Finn
With: Katy Kirby
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, November 16
Where: Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul
Tickets: $29.50+; find more info here.
