Craig Finn Shares “Birthdays”

Craig Finn has released “Birthdays,” the second song from the eagerly awaited new album, A LEGACY OF RENTALS. The Hold Steady frontman’s fifth solo LP, A LEGACY OF RENTALS (Positive Jams/Thirty Tigers) slated for release on Friday, May 20. Recorded in May 2021 with Finn’s longtime collaborators, producer Josh Kaufman and engineer D. James Goodwin, the album will be available in several formats, including CD, standard vinyl, and limited-edition white vinyl (online orders only). Pre-orders and pre-saves are available now.

Producer Josh Kaufman and I decided early on to feature strings on this record,” Finn says, “as opposed to the wind and brass heavy compositions of the last three albums. But when we came to this song we kept hearing Stuart Bogie’s saxophone, so we got him to do this solo and he crushed it. We thought it suggests a bit of a bridge back to my previous records. This song is about family, the way we honor these connections, and how both positive and negative things are carried through blood lines – genetic traits as long-term memories. Coincidentally, it was recorded on Josh’s actual birthday.