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Craig A. Finn (born August 22, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He is best known as the frontman of the American indie rock band the Hold Steady, with whom he has recorded nine studio albums. Prior to forming the Hold Steady, Finn was the frontman of Lifter Puller.
Described by Pitchfork Media as "a born storyteller who's chosen rock music as his medium," Finn has released six solo albums: Clear Heart Full Eyes (2012), Faith in the Future (2015), We All Want the Same Things (2017), I Need a New War (2019), A Legacy of Rentals (2022) and Always Been (2025).
In 2022, Finn began hosting his own podcast, That's How I Remember It, released through the Talkhouse. The podcast examines the relationship between memory and creativity through interviews with other musicians and artists. Finn began hosting a second podcast, Summer Album/Winter Album, in 2025.
He worked with Minneapolis rapper P.O.S on the song "Safety In Speed (Heavy Metal)" which was released on the 2006 album Audition. Always close to the Twin Cities music scene, he also contributed to Minnesota musician Mark Mallman's song "You're Never Alone in New York" on the 2009 album Invincible Criminal.
In 2010 he co-wrote, with Chris Cheney, the title track from the Living End's 2011 album, The Ending Is Just The Beginning Repeating, while Cheney was in New York City. After working together, Cheney called Finn "a hell of a lyricist".
In 2011, Finn performs lead vocals for a Minnesota Twins tribute song "Don't Call Them Twinkies" on the Baseball Project's second album .
In 2012, he sang backup on the title track for Joe Pug's album, The Great Despiser.
On April 8, 2014, Cheap Girls premiered the song "Man In Question" from their Famous Graves album. The track features Finn on guest vocals.
On February 22, 2016, Craig released a split single with Titus Andronicus named "No Faith / No Future / No Problem". On this split, Titus Andronicus covers Craig's "No Future" from his debut solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes, and Craig Finn covers Titus Andronicus's "No Future" from their debut album, The Airing Of Grievances.
In December, 2016, Finn released "Preludes", the first single from his next album, titled We All Want the Same Things, which was released via Partisan Records on March 24, 2017.
On January 30, 2019, Partisan Records announced the April 26 release of Finn's fourth album, I Need A New War, and released the first song from the album, "Blankets".
On May 20, 2022, A Legacy of Rentals was released on Positive Jams/Thirty Tigers.
On April 4, 2025, Finn released his sixth solo studio album, Always Been, produced by the War on Drugs frontman Adam Granduciel. The album features Granduciel and the War on Drugs appearing throughout as Finn's backing band. In December 2025 The Economist named Always Been as one of their top 10 albums of 2025, describing it as "an overlooked gem of sophisticated songwriting."
Particularly in later Hold Steady albums, Finn's songs have explored the darker aspects of his characters' party-centric lifestyles. Finn told an interviewer in 2012: "Artistically, I have always been really interested in the hangover; not just the celebration and the confetti but also the puke in the gutter." Finn has said that "irony is certainly not something I want to be accused of," instead hoping to bring "honesty and sincerity" through his songwriting. Although his stories involve violence and heavy drug use, Finn states his songwriting is not very personal or "confessional".
Finn's lyrics have been a frequent point of praise for The Hold Steady with Uncut Magazine describing his style as "narratives driven less by the wordy exposition of yore than acute observation, devastating detail, by turns exclamatory, epigrammatic and grainily authentic."
In a review of A Legacy of Rentals (2022), veteran critic Robert Christgau describes Finn's albums as an "ongoing series of musical short story" in which "not everybody loses... but for sure nobody wins", noting the preponderance of protagonists who are very likely nonvoting "all-white casualties of finance capital and the energy industry".
He is also a fan of Drive-By Truckers.
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