Archive Series, Vol. 1

Liner Note Authors: Anders Lindall; Howard Greynolds.Photographers: John Parnell; Gavin Ashworth.As Iron & Wine, songwriter Samuel Beam became an icon of rustic indie folk, his soft-spoken songs full of still, wistful country imagery and lovelorn emotions always tuneful enough to sit well beside the various mild-mannered indie rock bands that became his contemporaries as he spanned over a decade of recording and touring. The roots of Iron & Wine began when Beam was attending film school in the late '90s, quietly recording acoustic demos of his beautifully mumbly songs on a borrowed four-track. These demos circulated and eventually the best of the tracks were assembled as Iron & Wine's 2002 Sub Pop Records debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle. The project's overnight success would lead to an accelerated development for Beam, his muse quickly shifting to more professionally recorded albums and changes in style over the years toward electric folk-rock and even forays into traditi