© 2024 KOSU
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Iron and Wine: Songs of Love and Death

Years ago, a South Carolina-born musician called Sam Beam wandered into a general store and found a dietary supplement called "Beef Iron and Wine." After dropping the "Beef," he'd found a moniker for a band whose music would go on to evolve from spare acoustic solo recordings to fully fleshed-out roots-rock.

Beam's first album, 2002's The Creek Drank the Cradle, found Beam writing, performing, recording and producing every track by himself at a studio in his home. Featuring acoustic guitars, banjo and slide guitar, its music has been compared to that of Nick Drake, Simon & Garfunkel, Neil Young and Ralph Stanley. It's often characterized as alt-country, progressive folk or indie folk, with painfully intimate songs about love and death.

Our Endless Numbered Days continued Iron and Wine's acoustic approach, but the 2004 album was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. The expansion of the band's sound continued with two EPs: Woman King and In the Reins, the latter of which was recorded with the atmospheric indie-rock duo Calexico.

Last month, Iron and Wine released a diverse and progressive album called The Shepherd's Dog, which has already earned strong sales and excellent reviews. In this segment, Beam talks about the disc's status as a "headphone record" and praises Tom Waits, while pointing to South Carolina as an inspiration for his lyrics.

This program originally aired Oct. 19, 2007.

Copyright 2007 XPN

KOSU is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.