The Hold Steady

Latest Release

Essential Albums

Artist Playlists

More To Hear

About The Hold Steady

Emerging from the dust of frontman and songwriter Craig Finn’s former band, Lifter Puller, in Minneapolis in 2003, The Hold Steady became celebrated for their hard-hitting yet densely narrative rock songs by the mid-2000s. Following an early move to Brooklyn, the band helped define the borough’s vibrant indie scene alongside peers like Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on The Radio. While those acts were purveyors of dissonant post-punk, however, The Hold Steady were colloquially celebrated as “America’s best bar band.” There’s an intimacy to their work that earned them this nickname, as early albums like 2005’s Separation Sunday and 2006’s Boys and Girls in America found the band telling stories of teenage love and life on the margins. Open Door Policy (2021) updated these themes for middle age, as Craig Finn and company explored dreams deferred and the growing realization that life isn’t ever what one imagines it will be.

ORIGIN
Brooklyn, New York, NY, United States
FORMED
2003
GENRE
Alternative
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada