Iron & Wine

Iron and Wine, the principal recording/performing vehicle for current Austin, TX resident Sam Beam has, since 2002, released three full-length albums, a handful of EPs and singles, plus the collaborative In the Reins EP with Calexico. An incredibly prolific songwriter, Sam has built each album from a wealth of recorded material. Many of the songs not found on individual Iron and Wine releases later surfaced in live performance and in various limited-edition compilations. Up till now, any fan would find it difficult to track down these rarities.

Collecting songs ranging from out-of-print to never-before-released, Around the Well spans Iron and Wine’s earliest sessions which yielded the band’s debut (2002’s The Creek Drank the Cradle) through material recorded for 2007’s The Shepherd’s Dog. The double-disc/triple-LP Around the Well collection is broken up into two sections. The first half is an assortment of hushed home recordings, unedited and raw, and the second highlights moments captured in the confines of proper studios with the help of other musicians, friends and engineers.

The album’s title comes from a line in the song “The Trapeze Swinger,” a fan favorite which was written for and included in the movie In Good Company. Three more songs written and recorded for the film finally make their appearance here as well: “Belated Promise Ring,” “God Made the Automobile” and “Homeward, These Shoes.” Around the Well also brings together hard-to-find covers such as The Flaming Lips’ “Waitin’ for a Superman” and New Order’s “Love Vigilantes,” along with one of Iron and Wine’s earliest originals, “Sacred Vision,” which appeared on a compilation for Sound Collector magazine.

Iron & Wine is the stage name for one Samuel Beam, a Florida native who made his name by releasing lo-fi tapes in Miami. After catching the attention of Sub Pop honcho Jonathan Poneman, Beam was asked to send material to the label for submission. After a few months, he sent two CDs in the mail -- both of them full-length albums. Poneman considered releasing them both, but instead slimmed down the set to 12 songs and released it in September 2002 as The Creek Drank the Cradle. One year later, The Sea & the Rhythm followed, featuring five tracks recorded during the same sessions. Shortly thereafter, Beam headed into the studio for the very first time to make a record. The end result was the resolutely hi-fi record Our Endless Numbered Days, which was released by Sub Pop in 2004. Also that year, three Iron & Wine songs were used in the film In Good Company, and Beam's cover of the Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" was featured on the Garden State soundtrack. For the next Iron & Wine project, the group recorded an EP with Calexico; In the Reins was issued by Overcoat Recordings in September 2005. By this point there were no traces of the lo-fi sound of Beam's first recordings, and the band's third full-length album, 2007's The Shepherd's Dog, was their lushest, most produced yet. ~ Bradley Torreano & Tim Sendra, All Music Guide