A Positive Jam Shortman Studios

Separation Sunday, the Hold Steady's second album and the subject of season 2 of A Positive Jam, kicks off with "Hornets! Hornets!", a track that shows both how much the band grew between the recording of their debut (Almost Killed Me) and Separation Sunday and how much they were staying the same. A fuller sound, lyrics with both call-backs and new settings, and songwriting that takes things up to another level. "Hornets! Hornets!" is as distinctive and classic as an album opener gets.
Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman break down all the good stuff, including a thorough Kate Bush analysis, the importance of organs to Craig Finn, and how the album's Catholic themes pop up in lines you might least expect.

"Cattle & The Creeping Things" is a lot of The Hold Steady's fans' favorite songs, featuring Biblical allusions, world building, tight songwriting, and some of the sharpest and harshest instrumentation on the band's discography. As we find out on this episode, however, not everyone feels that way. We unpack the song to figure out why it rocks so hard, and whether it is, somehow, too much.
 
Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman break it all down.

The gateway drug to the Hold Steady. An entrant in the lost best-of-the 2000s Rhino compilation. A straight ahead pop-rock song with verses and choruses and refrains. A backing singer. An emotional gut punch. A study in narrative denial. And a fairly simple song to discuss. That's track 3 on Separation Sunday, the single "Little Hoodrat Friend."
Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman talk about why the song works, and why you don't have to dig too deep to figure it out.

Comes off crunchy but tastes like something deeper: Banging Camp, track 4 on The Hold Steady's Separation Sunday, may evoke tents and summer fun, but there's a more sinister undercurrent. Breaking bread and giving thanks may not mean what you think it means, in other words. We break it all down and figure out why this river trip is more Styxian than it seems on first appearance.

Some songs they get slimy, and then they get slinky, and then they get funky. Some tracks feel like skips to some people and the best track in the band's repertoire to other people. Some songs act as a character's theme music and some reinforce stereotypes about the Holy Roman Emperor's namesakes.
All of which is to say Charlemagne in Sweatpants is a song that spurs different sentiments. The fifth track on the Hold Steady's second, breakthrough album, Separation Sunday, this is a song that deserves special attention. To tackle it, we invite Bob Bland of the Bend & Scoop podcast - https://bendandscoop.com/ - to explain the glory of tramps and sweatpants, once and for all.

There's maybe no better song to appreciate the Hold Steady than "Stevie Nix", track 6 on Separation Sunday. The song hits for the Hold Steady cycle, with hard rock, balladry, howling vocals, sharp lyrics, storytelling, shifting perspectives, and epic songwriting.
To break it all down, we have Shawn Westfall, Mike Taylor, and Daniel Shvartsman on the call, as well as Kyle Undem, a special guest making his second appearance on A Positive Jam and repping the Twin Cities to explain why Profane Existence matters so much. Lawwwwd, to be a Hold Steady listener forever.
We also have a special contest for this episode, with a chance to win a copy of either Separation Sunday or the Hold Steady's newest album, Open Door Policy. Listen to the intro or check out our twitter account, @shortmanstudios, for details!