Tag: Iron and Wine

Iron & Wine: Navigating the High School Reunion of My Music Career

Posted on by Shelby Williamson

Long before the world fell in love with the music of Iron & Wine, and even before he knew that he wanted a career in music, Sam Beam knew that he loved making things. His parents, who didn’t necessarily understand their artsy kid but wanted to support him, kept Sam well-supplied in drawing paper and art supplies so that his imagination could run free. Sam knew that he was different from other kids but that didn’t bother him. In his early days of making music, Sam obsessively honed his skills as a producer so that he could present the most polished songs possible. It wasn’t until later that he realized that live performance was just as important a part of his craft. Following his own curiosity has enabled Sam to remain intellectually energized throughout two decades of touring and releasing music.

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One thing you might not know about Iron & Wine is that he has worked with the same manager for his entire career. When he met Howard Greynolds, Sam’s music career was just beginning to take off. Howard quickly proved that he cared more about the music than about getting money and credit. Their relationship has deepened and evolved over the years as Iron & Wine has become one of the most beloved singer-songwriters in folk music, and the music industry has reinvented itself in the age of streaming.

Iron & Wine is notoriously private and mysterious, but that might be about to change with the release of Who Can See Forever, a meditative documentary. The project started as a concert film but the director, Josh Sliffe, was able to convince Sam to sit for a series of interviews reflecting on his life, his work, parenthood, creativity, craft, and legacy. Those conversations find Sam looking back but mostly looking forward with curiosity and acceptance.

Photo Credit: Josh Wool

‘Sing Into My Mouth’

Posted on by Editor

This an enjoyable set of 12 covers brought to fruition by Sam Beam, the guy who is Iron & Wine, and Ben Bridwell, one of the driving forces behind Band of Horses. It’s titled after a line in the Talking Heads’ song, “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody),” the tune the pair chose to open the album. Beam and Bridwell distill the essential elements of the song — it’s very lightness being — down to it’s core, then rebuild it with a sense of ease and youthfulness akin to the '60s folk songs we heard from the likes of Melanie and Peter, Paul & Mary.

They dug deep into the rock and roll canon to find “Done This One Before,” a tune originally released by Ronnie Lane in 1974 as the B-side to his first single, “How Come.” There’s a bit of Nashville Skyline in their arrangement, laced with rambling piano and accentuated with flourishes of steel guitar. Beam and Bridwell harmonize beautifully on Paul Siebel’s “Anyday Woman” (best known from Bonnie Raitt’s cover) and make nice work of John Cale’s “You Know More Than I Know,” presenting it against a backdrop of cascading pianos and lightly tempered harmonies.

The pair don’t hesitate to experiment a little, as with the reverberating vocals on Cale’s “Magnolia” and freeform bass clarinet lines on El Perro Del Mar’s “God Knows (You Gotta Give to Get).” Those choices don’t always serve the songs to their fullest — they tend to distract from the inherent beauty of the words and melodies — but there’s enough restraint in the mix to keep them from getting too heavy-hearted.

When all is said and done, the eras and areas from which these songs come — Nashville in the '60s, LA in the '70s, New York in the '80s — remain at the core of these recordings. Beam and Bridwell stay honorable to the originals, sift them through unqiue musical personalities and make a record that's pretty enjoyable.