has written nine full albums for The Hold Steady and three for Lifter Puller, but when it comes to his solo material—such as his most recent solo album Always Been which is out now on Tamarac Recordings/Thirty Tigers—Finn has a different sense of scope than with his other bands.

But while Always Been might be a little bit smaller than the work Finn has put out with his other bands, that doesn’t mean that he put in less work. The album—which tells the story of “a guy who became a priest because he needed a job, because he needed money” and the aftermath as it all comes crashing down—exists in a world that Finn spent a lot of time creating.

We took a few minutes to talk to Finn about songwriting and storytelling, the album’s accompanying short-story collection, and touring with the legendary Bob Mould.

With The Hold Steady and Lifter Puller, I mainly wrote the lyrics. I’m reacting to the music people in the band are giving to me, which tends to be big. So I’m writing these big stories, people are doing very desperate things. Dramatic things happen in a Hold Steady song. My solo work, I write the music as well, mostly, and the stories tend to be smaller. They tend to be more mundane, but they also resemble my real life a little more, which allows me to be a little more vulnerable and focus in on some smaller details in the songs. I don’t feel the need to be quite as cinematic in the solo work.

I like writing those kind of records because, just due to my age, I grew up with albums. So I always think of in terms of albums. And then this one, most of the songs are about a protagonist. It’s about a guy who became a priest because he needed a job, because he needed money, he needed to pay his rent, etc. And he became a priest, but he didn’t believe in God, and he was successful at being a priest or a preacher, a pastor, whatever you want to say. But eventually it all came crashing down, and  the record picks up with him trying to figure out where it all went wrong, and wandering the Delaware shore, where his parents have a summer house that they’re not living in.

And it’s a lot about his story and what’s haunting him and what he’s trying to figure out. Now, not every song’s about that. There’s also a couple other songs that are called bottle episodes; they exist in the world generally but maybe don’t push that story ahead. My manager said it was like Pulp Fiction in that sense. I was saying it’s like a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon, but he said that was kind of dated, and I shouldn’t say that. I mean, he was joking. But yeah, most of the songs are about that, but they all live in that world.

Yeah. I mean, you have to hope. It’s a tricky thing because you want people to enjoy it no matter what level they’re getting into it. So I hope people are able to enjoy an individual song. That said. I really love making music or writing lyrics that maybe the super fans will obsess over and make a connection on their 10th listen that they didn’t on the first listen. That’s my goal. So I want to make something for everyone.

But I was definitely the kind of music fan that would obsess over the lyric sheet. And so I’m making music for a young me that is hoping that there’s some connections to be made, and people will be excited to figure things out. I always think it’s like a mistake to explain it 100% because I think that some of the fun for some people is getting there. And I was just at a show in San Francisco, and someone asked me a very specific question. I was like, I think that’ll be more fun if you figure out yourself.

Yeah, exactly! You know what I’m talking about.

I was writing a lot for this record, and even started writing some prose, mapping out the whole world and what happens to the characters. And I found that, as I wrote and wrote and wrote, I understood the characters more, and so I had a really good view of the world that they were living in. And I thought it’d be cool to have something that took place in that world. So again, the super fans, the people who want to go deepest on it, could go even further.

And the stories are all from point of view of different characters on the record, so it was a way to go deeper into the world. I really enjoyed it. I wrote so much for this record, and way more that could be in the songs. But then I actually wrote the stories in the book after the record was completed, but, because of what I’d done before, I really knew what the world looked like, and I knew what they would say. I loved the process of it. I loved the book. And again, I think it compliments the record in a cool way that people can really disappear into.

Well, he’s been a friend since 2009. And we’ve always been friends, and The War on Drugs is one of my favorite bands. So, when he comes to town, I go see him. But in 2022 they did a thing called Drugcember in Philadelphia, which is four nights, I think, of War on Drugs. And they have different guests come, and they invited me to go sing couple songs there. And we did some and we did a bunch of covers, but one of mine, and there’s one in particular cover song, the song “Walk On” by John Hiatt sounded so good that we felt like with me singing and The War on Drugs playing, there could be a record with us.

And we started talking a little bit. But then, once I had all these songs together, I was out in LA, and I went by to see his studio because he we’d been talking about the studio he had, and I just said, “Hey, have you ever produced anything? Could we work on something?” And I played him a song, the first song on the record, “Bethany, “and he was like, “Let’s do this. When can we start?” About two weeks later, I came back to LA quickly, and at that point, two of his bandmates were there, Dave Hartley and Anthony LaMarca, and we recorded three songs, and they sounded so good we decided to keep going make a record.

But he’s so talented, and he helped me so much. I mean, sonically, tons. He’s got an ease with recording and songs and making them sound good, but also with confidence. He just said, “That’s an amazing song. Let’s just play it. You brought me something really good, and let’s just make it sound good.” You read about people making records and saying, “Oh, it’s the hardest record we ever made. It was such a struggle.” This is the exact opposite of that, like, this was just a pleasure. I mean, we got stuck a couple times, or things maybe could have sounded better, and we figured it out. But for the most part, it was just playing the songs and finding our places in them, and it was a real joy.

I have to remind myself sometimes that this is all happening. It’s full-circle because he’s an absolute hero, one of the first bands I truly loved. I’ve been telling the story on stage that when I was a kid, the first time I did a stage dive was at a Husker Du show when Bob was playing. So, from that early moment, that’s something I probably wouldn’t do now, but from that moment to now. I’ve been friends with Bob for a little while, so, at times I get used to it, like, “Oh, that’s Bob.” But his body of work is just incredible. And the other night we were out in the desert, and we were driving back to LA after the show, and we had a two hour drive, and we listened to three Husker Du records in a row. And it was overwhelming to think I’ve gotten right next to my hero in this and it’s an honor, and he’s a legend.

The big thing is on May 30 at Bowery Ballroom in New York, we’re going to get the guys who made the record, Adam and Kathleen Edwards and some of the War on Drugs guys and all that. Everyone’s busy. So this is a one night only show, lie with all the the players on hand. So that’s a really exciting thing, because I think that one one night’s enough to get all these moving parts together. But beyond that, I’ll be touring. I’m oing to put most of the touring in the fall. I have a bunch of Hold Steady stuff. And when we get done with this tour, we’re going to Minneapolis with the Hold Steady and doing four shows there to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our record Separation Sunday. That’ll be a big celebration. And then through the year, (I’m going) back and forth between Hold Steady and the solo thing. But people seem to really like (this record) three days in, and I hope to be playing the songs for people. But I think a lot of that will happen in the fall.

Always Been and Lousy With Ghosts are both out now and you can order them . Follow Craig Finn on , , and for future updates. You can also subscribe to his .

Photo Credit: Dan Monick