Samuel Ervin Beam[2] (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a live album (a recording of his 2005 Bonnaroo performance). He occasionally tours with a full band.[3]
The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named "Beef, Iron & Wine" that he found in a general store while shooting a film.[4]
Early life
Beam was raised in Chapin, South Carolina, where his father worked in land management and his mother was a schoolteacher. When he was a child, his family took regular trips to the country, where his grandfather ran a farm. He attended Seven Oaks Elementary School and Chapin High School. While home from college, he was a waiter at California Dreaming restaurant in Columbia. Beam earned a bachelor's degree in art from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He specialized in painting before graduating from the Florida State University Film School with an MFA degree. Before the release of the first Iron & Wine album, Beam's main source of income was as a professor of film and cinematography at the University of Miami and Miami International University of Art & Design.[5] He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend lent him a four-track recorder. He began making demos and gave one to his friend Michael Bridwell, brother of Band of Horses lead singer, Ben Bridwell. Michael handed it to Mike McGonigal, editor of Yeti magazine, who chose "Dead Man's Will", later released on In the Reins, for inclusion on one of his magazine's compilation CDs. Beam later came to the attention of Sub Pop Records co-owner, Jonathan Poneman, who contacted Beam to propose a deal.[6][7][8][9]
Also in 2002, Beam recorded a cover of The Postal Service's then-unreleased song "Such Great Heights". Rather than being included on an Iron & Wine release, the track was initially included as a b-side of the original version by The Postal Service. It was later included on the B-sides and rarities album, Around the Well. He then followed up on his debut album in 2003 with The Sea & The Rhythm, an EP containing other home-recorded tracks with a similar style to the songs on the debut.
Beam's second full-length album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. Produced in Chicago by Brian Deck, the focus was still on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gave rise to a slightly different sound. That same year, he recorded the song "The Trapeze Swinger" for the film In Good Company, and had his version of "Such Great Heights" featured in an advertisement for M&M's and in the film and soundtrack for Garden State. This version was later used in a 2006 Ask.com advertisement, and eventually released as a single in 2006 backed with recordings of "The Trapeze Swinger" and "Naked as We Came" made for Radio Vienna.
Sarah Beam, Samuel's sister, at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland
In February 2005, he released an EP entitled Woman King, which expanded on the sounds of his previous LP with the addition of electric guitars. Each track features a spiritual female figure, and had subtle Biblical undertones.
The EP In the Reins, a collaboration with the Arizona-based rock band Calexico, was released in September 2005. Beam wrote all of the EP's songs years earlier, but Calexico added their trademark fusion of southwestern rock, traditional Mexican music and jazz to the songs' arrangements. Several tracks, most notably, "Burn That Broken Bed", feature brass instruments, a first for Beam's music.[12]
The third full-length Iron & Wine album, entitled The Shepherd's Dog, was released September 25, 2007.[13] This album was voted one of the ten best of 2007 by Paste magazine.[14] Contributors included Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus of Calexico, as well as jazz musicians Matt Lux and Bob Burger.[15] When asked to describe the album to The Independent, Beam remarked that "it's not a political propaganda record, but it's definitely inspired by political confusion, because I was really taken aback when Bush got reelected."[16]
Beam has released most of his music on iTunes, including several exclusive EPs. The Iron & Wine iTunes Exclusive EP features unreleased studio recordings, including a Stereolab cover and two tracks which had previously only appeared on vinyl. The Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) features Beam and his sister, Sarah Beam, performing a number of tracks from his albums, as well as a cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes". Sarah Beam has contributed backing vocals on many of Beam's studio recordings.
On November 26, 2010, Iron & Wine released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 12" vinyl and CD single called, Walking Far From Home for independent record stores.
Kiss Each Other Clean, Iron & Wine's fourth full-length album, was released on January 25, 2011, on Warner Bros. Records in North America and 4AD for the rest of the world.[17] With this album, Beam blended his earlier styles with a stronger pop influence.[18]
Ghost on Ghost, Iron & Wine's fifth studio album, was released in April 2013 on Nonesuch Records in North America and 4AD for the rest of the world.[19]Ghost on Ghost marked a further exploration into the pop sounds of Kiss Each Other Clean while also exhibiting jazz and R&B influences, with jazz drummer Brian Blade contributing to the album.[20] In January 2014, recording during the polar vortex in Chicago, Beam and his regular collaborator Brian Deck co-produced eight of the ten songs on Chadwick Stokes' 2015 album The Horse Comanche.[21] Beam contributed the Iron & Wine band to the sessions and sang backing vocals.
In August 2017, Iron & Wine's sixth studio album Beast Epic was released through Sub Pop Records. The record saw Beam strip back the production and array of instruments from previous records to return to more simple and melodic song structures.[24]
On March 21, 2019, Calexico and Iron & Wine announced Years to Burn, their first collaboration album. It was released on June 14, 2019, via Sub Pop.[25]
Beam, his wife Kim, and their five daughters live in Durham, North Carolina.[28] He was raised in the Bible belt as a Christian, but is now an agnostic: "That was a confusing time for me, but I don't miss being misled. I'm not an atheist. There's an undeniable unseen world that some people call God and think they know more about than other people. I try not to get hung up on the names."[29][30]
In 2011, a portrait of Beam was painted by British artist Joe Simpson. The painting was exhibited around the UK, including in a solo exhibition at The Royal Albert Hall.[31]
Discography
Studio albums
List of albums, with selected chart positions, sales figures and certifications
Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released ten studio albums and have toured internationally.
Calexico is an American indie rock band based in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1996, the band's two main members, Joey Burns and John Convertino, first played together in Los Angeles as part of the group Giant Sand. They have recorded a number of albums on Quarterstick Records and City Slang, and their 2005 EP, In the Reins, recorded with Iron & Wine, reached the Billboard 200 album charts. Their musical style is influenced by traditional Latin sounds of mariachi, conjunto, cumbia, and tejano mixed with country, jazz, and post-rock.
Our Endless Numbered Days is the second full-length album from Iron & Wine. Released on March 23, 2004 on Sub Pop, it was the first non-solo effort by Sam Beam under his Iron & Wine moniker. Limited edition copies of the vinyl LP came with a bonus 7" vinyl single. Limited edition copies of the CD came with a bonus CD single. On January 29, 2019, Sub Pop announced that a deluxe edition of the album commemorating its 15th anniversary would be released on March 22, 2019, featuring previously unreleased demos of eight of the tracks from the original album.
The Creek Drank the Cradle is the first studio album by the American musician Iron & Wine. It was released on September 24, 2002. The vinyl LP release had a bonus 7" vinyl single. The promotional CD for this album was released in a cardboard sleeve with different artwork.
Leviathan is the second album by American heavy metal band Mastodon, released in 2004 on Relapse Records. It is Mastodon's first concept album, loosely based on the 1851 novel Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. The songs "Iron Tusk," "Naked Burn," and "Blood and Thunder" were released as promotional singles, and music videos were created for "Iron Tusk," "Blood and Thunder," and "Seabeast". Three magazines awarded the album Album of the Year in 2004: Revolver, Kerrang! and Terrorizer. In 2009 and 2015 MetalSucks named Leviathan the best metal album of the 21st century.
"Such Great Heights" is a song by American indie pop band The Postal Service. It was released as the lead single from their debut studio album, Give Up, in 2003 through Sub Pop Records. The single includes a previously unreleased track, "There's Never Enough Time", and two cover tracks by The Shins and Iron & Wine of "We Will Become Silhouettes" and "Such Great Heights", respectively. It reached its peak at 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart.
In the Reins is a joint EP by Calexico and Iron & Wine, released by Overcoat Recordings on September 13, 2005. Iron & Wine's Sam Beam wrote all of the songs, which were recorded by the two bands together at Wavelab Studio in Tucson, Arizona. The album peaked at #135 on the Billboard 200. Both later collaborated on a cover of Bob Dylan's "Dark Eyes" for the I'm Not There soundtrack, while Calexico's Joey Burns was featured on Iron & Wine's third LP, The Shepherd's Dog.
Such Great Heights is an EP by the Florida singer-songwriter Iron & Wine. It was released in 2006 on the Sub Pop record label.
The Shepherd's Dog is the third full-length studio album by Iron & Wine, released on September 25, 2007. If bought at select retailers or if pre-ordered through Sub Pop, the album comes with a bonus disc featuring two unreleased tracks. "Boy with a Coin" is the first single and was released on July 10, 2007 via Sub Pop, including the single edit of the song along with two other tracks.
The soundtrack album for the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There was released as a double CD on October 30, 2007. It features only one recording by Dylan himself—his previously unreleased recording of the title song "I'm Not There" recorded during The Basement Tapes' sessions in 1967—plus various other artists' recordings of songs written by Dylan. These CDs do not contain the movie sound track. Fragments from less than half of the titles are heard in the film, which features more of Dylan's own recordings. The end credits relay a complete list of music heard in the film.
Norfolk is a live album by Iron & Wine released on April 18, 2009, Record Store Day. However it was recorded on June 20, 2005. It received an extremely limited release and is now only available on Iron & Wine's official website.
Tune-Yards is the American, Oakland, California–based music project of Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner. Garbus's music draws from an eclectic variety of sources and uses elements such as loop pedals, ukulele, vocals, and lo-fi percussion. Tune-Yards’ 2011 album Whokill was ranked the number one album of that year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz and Jop critics’ poll.
Kiss Each Other Clean is the fourth studio album by Iron & Wine, released January 25, 2011 via 4AD (worldwide) and Warner Bros. in the US. The album's title is taken from the lyrics of "Your Fake Name Is Good Enough for Me".
Ghost on Ghost is the fifth full-length studio album by Iron & Wine, released April 16, 2013 via 4AD (worldwide) and Nonesuch in the US. The album's title is taken from the lyrics of "Grace for Saints and Ramblers" and the cover is taken from photographer Barbara Crane's series "Private Views." Ghost on Ghost exhibits jazz, pop, and R&B influences and contains a more relaxed style and approach in comparison to Beam's previous two albums, which he felt contained an "anxious tension" he wanted to move away from.
Robert Burger is an American composer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and music director.
Love Letter for Fire is a collaborative album by American singer-songwriter Sam Beam, commonly known as Iron & Wine, and American singer-songwriter Jesca Hoop, released on April 15, 2016, on Sub Pop.
This is the discography for American rock band Calexico.
Beast Epic is the sixth full-length studio album by Iron & Wine, released August 25, 2017 via both Black Cricket Recording Company and Sub Pop.
Who Can See Forever Soundtrack is a soundtrack album by American singer-songwriter Iron & Wine that accompanies the 2023 documentary and concert film Who Can See Forever, directed by Josh Sliffe. The documentary is based around one of Iron & Wine's performances at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina. The album was released on November 17, 2023, through Sub Pop, and received acclaim from critics.
Light Verse is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Iron & Wine, released on April 26, 2024, by Sub Pop. It is Sam Beam's first solo album since Beast Epic (2017), and follows his collaborative album with Calexico, Years to Burn (2019).
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