So here we are, on the 13th day of the New Year, and my writer’s block that has been dogging me since last year has managed to get itself distracted for long enough for me to get my fingers on a keyboard and start writing some goddamn posts. Every year, I’ve spent January hunting through emails, blog posts, Soundcloud streams and the like to find the most exciting, most thrilling, most stunning new bands and songs, for your delectation. Previous finds, such as Freelance Whales and Cotton Jones, have ended up being albums of that year. And what better way to start this year than to do the same?

Craig Finn has been delivering classic Springsteen-esque meat-and-two-veg rock par excellence for a number of years now, as lead man of The Hold Steady. Taking advantage of a break in that band, he’s going solo with a new album out on 24th January, titled “Clear Heart Full Eyes”. Here’s a new track from the album, named “New Friend Jesus”.

Now I quite like this new, more acoustic Craig, like he’s just wandered into a bluegrass bar in South Carolina and decided to jam along with the house band, before drinking some blue liquor that looks like it should be used for cleaning combs and passing out in someone’s chicken coop.

You can pre-order the album from here, and if you order quickly you’ll get a free bandana, which must be up there as one of the oddest free gifts of recent years.

More to come, soon, hopefully.