Craig Finn is one of the most literary songwriters out there. His songs, both with band The Hold Steady, and on his increasingly superior solo output, are like classic short stories... so it's unsurprising that he names Raymond Carver and Jack Kerouac as primary influences.
His writing is often compared to the storytelling style of Bruce Springsteen, particularly Born To Run era Springsteen. Songs like Meeting Across The River and Jungleland feel like templates for Craig Finn's entire career.
The most direct admission of Finn's Springsteen influence comes in a song from his first band, Lifter Puller. As is often the case with first bands, Lifter Puller were a lot more rough and ready than The Hold Steady, and you certainly wouldn't have predicted their lead singer to go on and create solo work as thoughtful and mellow as Finn's latest album, Always Been. But it's Lifter Puller who did the full-on Springsteen sequel. Here's the original...
Tear drops on the city, Bad Scooter searching for his groove
Seem like the whole world walking pretty and you can't find the room to move
Well, everybody better move over, that's all
'Cause I'm running on the bad side and I got my back to the wall
Tenth Avenue freeze-out
And here's the sequel...
Virginia slept with the sketchy chick
She was sick, they still clicked
Rhode Island slide with the skinny guy
Pawtucket pawnshops and Newport Lights
Made amends with your dealer friends
The truth is in the camera lens
So don't come home
With a stick in your nose
I hired a detective
He's got a tiny camera
It's not as catchy, but catchiness wasn't really the point of Lifter Puller.
Here's one other song to cement the connection...
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