Making music about places

An article about a band that understands the importance of place.

The Hold Steady - New York Times: " ... surely it can’t be a coincidence that, just as the Hold Steady is starting to reach a few more of the boys and girls in America, Mr. Finn has refocused on Minneapolis. He’s clearly obsessed with the link between small stories and big ones, between local favorites and national successes, between punk-club stages and dive-bar jukeboxes, between bands no one’s heard of and songs everybody knows.

"This, maybe, is his idea of what it means to be an American band: singing about Minneapolis, and all the Minneapolises across the country. A dull street corner gets transformed into a rousing refrain; a fictionalized town inspires its real-life counterpart. That album title, 'Boys and Girls in America,' really isn’t so misleading; it’s a salute to the neighborhood kids in the songs, and outside them too. The Hold Steady’s made-up map of the country is looking a little bit less imaginary."