The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America

Welcome to the first Album of the Month of the New Year and whilst everyone is recovering from Christmas excesses and abstaining from booze, the new Hold Steady album will allow you to hear bar room tales and  big drinking stories to whet your appetite until your resolutions crack!

Regularly described as a cross between Thin Lizzy and Springsteen – I agree to a point, with hedonistic rockers mixed in with reflective songs of regret – but they also give a nod to Alt Country bands like Uncle Tupelo and Ryan Adams & Whiskeytown.

The songs tell great stories and lyrically are very clever. Each song features characters which you will recognise in some shape or form, no matter how small. From boozers and fighters to  loners and losers – and from youngsters finding love in the chill-out room (after receiving  medical help for excesses at a festival) to tales of luck at the racecourse – the album is a wealth of well-crafted songs which rock out like a good one.

Check out Chips Ahoy – http://music.aol.com.artist/the-hold-steady/643275/main#