Key Of Grey

Photo courtesy of Ella Mullins

May 8th, 2009 – Iron & Wine is the stage name of Samuel Beam, an American songwriter on the Sub-Pop label (famous for bands like Nirvana). His music is typically sparse in its arrangement, generally consisting of an acoustic guitar and his soft, almost whispered vocals. While it’s not the blues, the rhythmically repetitive and percussive nature of his guitar playing, in concert with simple vocals, exudes a similar energy.

The first song I heard from him was “Boy With Coin” (video embedded below). The guitar part is at once simple and melodic, with emotional vocals. While the lyrics are certainly up for poetic interpretation, you almost don’t need them to understand the message. Even if you aren’t feeling the music of Iron & Wine, you have to respect a songwriter that can do so much with so little.

Iron & Wine