Major General

We've been in the same room maybe a dozen times now, but I'd never heard Franz Nicolay speak until I saw him play to a half-empty house on a Saturday night a few weeks back. Over the last few years, the wine-swilling, Rollie Fingers-looking keyboardist for the greatest rock'n'roll band going-- that'd be the Hold Steady-- and charter World/Inferno Friendship Society member has proven himself to be his band's not-so-secret weapon. Still, Nicolay manages to largely hide in plain sight where the Hold Steady's concerned, deferring to the outsized stage presence and unmatched lyricism of one Craig Finn.