10 Greatest Hard Rock Songs Of The 2000s
6. The Hold Steady - “Sequestered In Memphis”
To call The Hold Steady the best bar band in the world sounds like damning with faint praise, but there’s really no better way to describe them. Led by the wry and sardonic Craig Finn, the Minnesota group have the vibe of a group of boozers who never leave their stools, but somehow know precisely what’s going on.
Their 2008 record Stay Positive contains many of their high points to date, the best being the swaggering southern rock workout “Sequestered In Memphis”. Drenched in Stax horns and delivered at a tight pace, it’s a song about a night out gone horribly wrong and a hook up that leads to a lengthy police interview.
Finn plays the part of the suspect locked up somewhere between Texas and Tennessee and his throaty vocals are a great counterpoint to the swinging brass and thumping drums. It’s a tune about dark times made all the more sinister by the jaunty counterpoint of the music.
They even find time for a handclap section as the sketchy narrator draws you into his unreliable viewpoint. It’s a hard hitting number with real literary ambitions;