Iron And Wine / Calexico

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.