Slide, The Hold Steady, slide

Lots of Hold Steady news, coming from all angles: there's a new single (Stuck Between Stations) out on May 7th; then they're going to pop up on the new series of Later With Jools Holland. There's a mini-UK & Ireland tour been set up:

Mon 2nd July London Shepherds Bush Empire
Wed 4th July Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms
Thu 5th July Manchester Academy 2
Sat 7th July T In The Park Festival Scotland
Sun 8th July Oxygen Festival Ireland

And, on top of all this, Vagrant/Full Time Hobby will be releasing the band's first two albums. Previously only available in the UK through import or, more honestly, bittorrent, Almost Killed Me and Seperation Sunday are getting a May release.

And, on top of that, the band have recorded a version of Take Me Out To The Ball Game for the Minnesota Twins. Craig Finn was excited when Twins' musical director Kevin Dutcher approached him:

"He thought it would be cool for us to record 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' He was like, 'I'm gonna be playing your record, so it'd be cool if you guys could do this.' It was all unofficial, but we decided we should do it.

"I mean, the Hold Steady, we're all sort of sports guys. We're more likely to be drinking beer and eating wings and watching baseball rather than collecting some obscure 7-inch."

Something to do with rounders, we understand.