Special post by Patrick Cooley

After seeing The Hold Steady at Newport Music Hall two years ago, I had some reservations about going to Craig Finn’s solo show at The Basement Thursday.

How is one guy with a few backup musicians in a crowded closet of a bar supposed to compete with the entire band rocking Ohio State’s largest music venue? But there are advantages to seeing a show in a smaller venue — it’s much more intimate and easier to get close to the stage, and Finn played to the strength of the venue as well as any musician could have.

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t much care for The Hold Steady’s latest effort, “Heaven is Whenever.” Prior to that release, they were always raw, unapologetic and not afraid to tackle subjects like religion, teenage drug use, prostitution and debauchery with an uncensored honesty that you only seem to get when you’re sitting at the corner table in the bar, talking to a group of your closest friends.

But “Heaven is Whenever” seemed generic, and, dare I say it, average.

“Clear Heart, Full Eyes,” Finn’s solo album, is hardly a perfect release, but he takes the opportunity to get back to what he does best, writing music that’s frank and not afraid to offend. He abandons the indie-punk sound of The Hold Steady for steel guitars and flannel button up T-shirts, gathering more of an alternative country twang. It’s no less engaging.

“Remember when you were in college, or just out of college, and you were living with all of your friends?” he asked the crowd of just a few hundred between songs Thursday night. “All you did was hang out and drink beer and it was great.”

But then you’re 35 and you’re divorced and you move in with a bunch of other guys and it’s terrible, he said, before transitioning into Rented Room, a song about being 35, divorced and moving in with a bunch of other guys.

His portrayal was honest, emotional and in such a small and intimate setting, we knew exactly what he went through.