Iron & Wine - A Hero To Men With Beards

Today being the day of new music releases, I'm giving a taste of the new Iron & Wine album, The Shepherd's Dog. Sam Beam began Iron & Wine with beautifully hushed, lo-fi recordings of simple folk arrangements and his almost whispered singing. Over the past five years and with subsequent releases, however, he has begun fleshing out full-band arrangements, first with theWoman King EP and then my favorite record from 2005, his collaboration EP with Calexico, the southwestern daydream-infused In The Reins. Though I haven't heard the full album yet, The Shepherd's Dog sounds to be everything I expected - Beam's multi-tracked voicing of parables backed by interesting arrangements and intstrumentations to great effect. If you've only been exposed to I&W by M&M's commercial or the movie Garden State with his version of "Such Great Heights," you owe it to yourself to give Iron & Wine's own material a listen. Folk music is alive and well and still mutating thanks to bands like this.

As for more I&W news: It looks as though Iron & Wine is slated to play here in Utah on December 7 at Saltair. While it's not my favorite venue as far as audio-logistics go, I've still seen some fine shows there and there's nothing quite like the experience of listening to live music while the wind scents the stage with salt and dead brine shrimp.

Download entire playlist

Boy With a Coin (from The Shepherd's Dog)
Carousel (from The Shepherd's Dog)
Muddy Hymnal (from The Creek Drank the Cradle)
The Trapeze Artist (from the In Good Company soundtrack)
Jezebel (from Woman King EP)
Jesus the Mexican Boy (from The Sea and the Rhythm EP)
Communion Cups and Someone's Coat (from Passing Afternoon EP)

Are You Ready For The Country?

I always feel bad for country music (the name, the entity) because of all the crap that gets dumped out of the rotting, bloated Nashville music labels and songwriters that have dominated for so long. It just opens up the term to abuse. Because of this, I always have to defend myself when I say I love country music and go into long explanations about not liking the seventies country-rock imitations (Kenny Chesney grafting and transplanting that early-70's Jimmy Buffet sound, jsut not as good) and adult contemporary rip-offs, which is what popular country has become. If I were able to choose a band to be in, my dream line-up would include a fiddle, pedal steel, dobro, acoustic guitars and banjo. There's something about music with a country bend that, when done well, strikes me more than any other type of music. So here are fifteen of my favorite country-ish artists and songs, though there are many more beyond that. I may have to do a part two to this (especially if y'all like it).

Just a quick shout out -- Band of Annuals are an amazing Salt Lake band, so support them if you dig it. You can buy their records on-line or at my favorite SLC shop, Slowtrain.

(This was inspired by a post over at the ever-entertaining The Wounded Mosquito, where TWM went on a rant of country-inspired loathing. Don't give up, Josh - a lot of this music was made post-grunge.)

Hank Williams III - Trashville (from Lovesick, Broke and Driftin')
Calexico/Iron & Wine - A History of Lovers (from In The Reins)
Johnny Cash - Let the Train Blow the Whistle (from American Recordings)
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (from Fox Confessor Brings the Flood)
Gram Parsons - Return of the Grievous Angel (from G.P./Greivous Angel)
Drive-By Truckers - Gravity's Gone (from A Blessing and a Curse)
Whiskeytown - Inn Town (from Stranger's Almanac)
Wilco - That's Not the Issue (from A.M.)
Merle Haggard - Honky Tonkin' (from Roots, Volume 1)
Son Volt - Hanging Blue Side (from Wide Swing Tremolo)
Band of Annuals - Blood On My Shirt (from Let Me Live)
Neil Young - Out on the Weekend (from Harvest)
Ryan Adams - Sweet Black Magic (from Gold bonus disc)
Pure Prairie League - Amie (from Bustin' Out)
The Rolling Stones - Dead Flowers (from Sticky Fingers)