b. Sam Beam, South Carolina, USA. This Miami, Florida, USA-based one-man band earned comparisons to 70s folk rock icon Nick Drake with the release of his 2002 debut, The Creek Drank The Cradle. Multi-instrumentalist Sam Beam began issuing lo-fi tapes as Iron And Wine in the late 90s as a sideline to his day job as a cinematography teacher, crafting a slew of minimalist folk pop songs that fitted neatly into the lo-fi melancholy mould championed by Lou Barlow of Sebadoh and the Folk Implosion. A chain reaction of events got the Iron And Wine ball rolling, as a childhood friend of Beam's (who also happens to run his own small indie label, Brown Records), Ben Bridwell, turned the editor of a Seattle, Washington-based magazine, Yeti, on to the project. Yeti issued a compilation CD one month that included an Iron And Wine song, which found its way into the hands of Jonathan Poneman of Sub Pop Records. Interested in the track he heard, Poneman was able to track down Beam, who sent him two CDs full of original material. Impressed by what he heard (going as far as describing it as "the most arresting and seductive music that I've heard in years"), Poneman signed Iron And Wine to Sub Pop. Plans to issue the two discs "as is" were eventually dropped, in favour of compiling 11 of the best tracks on The Creek Drank The Cradle.
Five additional tracks from The Creek Drank The Cradle sessions surfaced on the EP The Sea & The Rhythm, released at the end of 2003 before Beam started work on a follow-up album. This time around Beam chose to work in a proper recording studio with a number of backing musicians and vocalists, including his sister Sarah and producer Brian Deck. For all the studio polish involved, the ensuing Our Endless Numbered Days was a sparser sounding record than its predecessor. The lyrical cast of the album spun cryptic tales about human mortality, embracing a more complex worldview than the wide-eyed lullabies found on his earlier recordings. The 2005 six-track EP Woman King revealed further developments in the Iron And Wine sound, introducing electric guitar and a greater rhythmic drive. The same year's joint album with Calexico featured seven new Beam originals.
