Iron & Wine

Iron & Wine was South Carolina songwriter and visual artist Sam Beam, whose unlikely commercial success put him at the forefront of an underground folk movement. Beam came into music from the art world, first studying painting as an undergraduate, then earning a BFA in film from Florida State University, and teaching film at the University of Miami. A film shoot indirectly provided his performing name, when he noticed a supermarket dietary supplement called Beef, Iron & Wine. Beam wrote songs for a number of years before making any recordings, and only began making home demos after borrowing a friend's four-track. Another friend, Michael Bridwell, brother of Band of Horses singer Ben, passed the demos around and they made their way to the Sub Pop label which signed him. Iron & Wine's 2002 debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle, was all lo-fi home recordings; the muddy sound, plucked guitar and banjo, and Beam's near-whispered vocals all gave it an air of haunting melancholia. This mood was maintained as Beam expanded the sound on 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days, which was done in a studio with a sparingly-used electric band. That album nonetheless began making Beam a fixture on TV soundtracks. His cover of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" (from an earlier single) even made it to an M&M's commercial. Beam and the Americana band Calexico collaborated in 2005 for the EP In the Reins. 2007's The Shepherd's Dog featured a larger group of players including members of Calexico, and this time the sound was far more fleshed out with a few full-fledged rockers. Its lyrics took a more political slant in response to George W. Bush's re-election. The move to a rock-friendly sound continued on Kiss Each Other Clean, his major-label debut for Warner Bros., which was also a commercial smash, reaching #2 on the Billboard album chart. The followup Ghost on Ghost was another surprise with its lushly textured folk/pop, and also charted successfully at #26. Beam then returned to indie roots on a string of side projects, including a covers album with Ben Bridwell (Sing Into My Mouth), a collection of early, previously-unreleased demos, and an acoustic duet album, Love Letter for Fire, with Jesca Hoop. 2017 brought Beast Epic, a reflective acoustic album dealing with Beam's thoughts about aging as he hit his 40s. 2019 brought the first full Iron & Wine/Calexico album Years to Burn.