Latest Release
- JUL 31, 2024
- 2 Songs
- The Shepherd's Dog · 2007
- Around the Well (Bonus Track Version) · 2002
- Around the Well (Bonus Track Version) · 2003
- Our Endless Numbered Days · 2004
- The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Pt. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) [Deluxe Version] · 2011
- Time After Time - Single · 2016
- Beast Epic · 2017
- Our Endless Numbered Days · 2004
- The Shepherd's Dog · 2007
- The Shepherd's Dog · 2007
Essential Albums
- Little did Sam Beam—then a Miami-based university professor with filmmaking ambitions—know that Our Endless Numbered Days would take off the way that it did. Shortly after releasing his debut album in 2002, The Creek Drank the Cradle, Beam became a notable presence in an indie-folk movement—alongside artists like Damien Rice and The Mountain Goats—that favored form-fitting simplicity. Having self-recorded Creek with minimal resources, Beam expanded his instrumental expression with his 2004 follow-up, backing his somber, fingerpicking performances with string arrangements and touches of Delta blues. Hollywood quickly took notice, and it didn’t take long for his spare, wistful lullabies to feature on prime-time TV shows like House M.D. and Grey’s Anatomy. His calming eloquence may sound easy on the ears set against dramatic scenes, but Beam’s Southern Gothic-inspired narratives were much more thoughtful than what was on the surface. “Cinder and Smoke” and “Each Coming Night,” while softened with gentle banjo-picking and acoustic guitar, use natural imagery to tell intimate accounts of personal ruin and renewal. At the same time, Beam could draw from memories of his Christian upbringing on the iridescent “Sodom, South Georgia,” adopting dark, Faulkner-like storytelling about the cyclical nature of life and death. And then there’s the undeniably romantic “Naked As We Came,” which brought to mind the stripped-down beauty of cult British artist Nick Drake. The song’s success catapulted Our Endless Numbered Days to reach certified Gold status for seminal indie label Sub Pop. It allowed Beam to dream even bigger on 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog, trading pastoral folk for a fuller and progressive sound backed by an eight-piece band. While he continued to evolve as an artist past Days, its influence continued to be felt into the late aughts, foretelling the folk-rock resurgence popularized by the likes of Fleet Foxes and Mumford & Sons.
- 2024
- 2017
- 2024
- 2024
- 2024
Artist Playlists
- Sam Beam reached great heights thanks to a soundtrack—and hasn't looked back since.
- An indie-folk study on the profound power of subtlety.
- Hushed, intimate acoustic pop for the 21st century.
- Delicate folk from some of songwriting's most sensitive souls.
Compilations
More To Hear
- Sam Beam discusses Iron & Wine's Light Verse.
About Iron & Wine
In the 2000s, Iron & Wine (a.k.a. singer-songwriter Sam Beam) helped bring about an indie-folk explosion whose effects would be felt for decades. Beam’s warm, hushed vocals and poetic lyrics were framed by his gentle acoustic-guitar picking for a lo-fi vibe undeniably indie but worlds away from alt-rock. Born in 1974 and raised in Chapin, SC, he worked as a film teacher and recorded home demos for years before signing to Sub Pop and releasing his 2002 debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. He expanded his arrangements on subsequent albums and worked with members of Califone, Calexico, Band of Horses, Wilco, and others. Whether he’s onboarding the influences of blues, country, or West African music, his low-key delivery and imagistic lyrics remain his musical signature. Judging from the artists who have arrived in Beam’s wake—Zach Bryan, Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver—the music world would have evolved very differently without him.
- GENRE
- Alternative