[photo courtesy of Geoffrey at According to G]
Craig Finn’s first solo album Clear Heart Full Eyes is a significant departure from his eight years in The Hold Steady. Its a relaxed country album produced in Texas that has a demo feel. Finn’s storyteller style fits well in this genre, and as a result the new record has been well received. For the tour in support, Finn has put together a band of ringers that he has labeled “Some Guns”, after his song of the same title (streaming below). While the band includes a lead guitar and a lap-steel guitar, the live performance has a greater rock feel than the album. At Mercury Lounge on Wednesday night, Craig Finn played two shows and we caught the early one. Late in the tour and back home, the band was both tight and celebratory. As is his live tradition, Finn spoke candidly to the crowd and his between song stories and banter were compelling and entertaining. Also familiarly, the reworked full band rock versions of the Clear Heart songs have a Hold Steady feel to them, although the three-song solo acoustic mini-set was a new experience. Craig Finn has promised a new Hold Steady album later this year, but given the number and quality of the unreleased songs featured in this set, we would venture to say that he has enough strong material for a second solo album. Craig will be touring throughout March. While tour ends in Europe, there is another NYC date coming soon, at Music Hall of Williamsburg next week.
I recorded this set with the new Sennheiser MKH-8040s from the front of the soundboard in the center of the room. The three quiet songs suffer from some ambient noise (door, cups), but overall the sound is crisp and meaty. Enjoy!
Stream “Some Guns”:
[audio:http://www.nyctaper.com/H6589HoldSteady1192/09.%20Some%20Guns.mp3]Direct download of complete show in MP3 files (HERE)
Download the Complete show in FLAC [HERE].
Note: All of the material on this site is offered with artist permission, free to fans, at our expense. The only thing we ask is that you download the material directly from this site, rather than re-posting the direct links or the files on other sites without our permission. Please respect our request.
Craig Finn
2012-02-29
Early Show
Mercury Lounge
New York, NY USA
Digital Master
Front of Board Audience Recording
Sennheiser MKH-8040 Cardioids > Edirol R-44 (Oade Concert Mod) > 24bit 48kHz wav file > Soundforge (level adjustments, mixdown, set fades) > CDWave 1.95 (tracking) > TLH > flac (320 MP3 and tagging via Foobar)
Recorded and Produced
by nyctaper 2012-03-01
Setlist:
[Total Time 1:13:17]
01 [introduction]
02 Apollo Baby
03 Keep On Running
04 Balcony
05 Jackson
06 No Future
07 When No One’s Watching
08 [banter – band theme songs]
09 Some Guns
10 Western Pier
11 New Friend Jesus
12 Sarah, I’m Surrounded
13 Jeremiah’s Blues
14 Dennis and Billy
15 Going To A Show
16 Honolulu Blues
17 Not Much Left
If you download this recording from NYCTaper we expect that you will PLEASE SUPPORT Craig Finn, visit his website, and purchase Clear Heart Full Eyes directly from Vagrant Records [HERE]
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