48 Lines About 12 Men (For Craig Finn)

“48 Lines,” Jeff’s first ECR release and the album’s leadoff track, is a slice of classic punk ‘n’ roll, and is in part a tribute to Craig Finn, the voice behind The Hold Steady.

“I love Craig and his work so much. Two of the best shows I’ve ever seen are Hold Steady shows. And this song has its origin story at one of them–the closest I’ve come to a full-on fight in my adult life was at Mezzanine in San Francisco during a Hold Steady show. I was there with my pregnant wife, and a drunk jackass plowed into her on his way to the front. I just took off after him in a mist of red and thankfully lost him in the crowd just as I was about to grab him. Only then did I come to and realize that perhaps the better move would have been to check on my wife. When I turned around and saw the perplexed look on her face six rows behind me, I had the inspiration for this song.”

“48 Lines” tells twelve mini-stories about men who find themselves in moments of self-denial, and work-in-progress. “Growing up is hard. Period. And we all have a dozen memories that wake us up in the middle of the night. I wanted to celebrate that imperfection, so I thought about some of the encounters I’ve had that have made me laugh or shake my head, picked some favorites, and the song just fell out.”

Since the Hold Steady show was such a source of inspiration, Jeff leaned into the band’s sound as well, playing all the instruments on the track with some help on guitar from Gawain Matthews and growling the lyrics with Finn-like sardonic resignation. “Talk-singing is a lost art. I don’t usually sing this way, so I’m psyched to be bringing it back on this track.”

In addition to Jeff’s upcoming album, ElectraCast will also be re-releasing Jeff’s back catalog, and a series of releases to tie in with the ElectraCast podcast 50 Years of Music that Jeff records with best friends Tim Plaehn and Ben Barton. “I have so much music coming, and ECR are the perfect partners for sharing it with people. This is gonna be a pretty special year for me.”