The debut release in Iron & Wine’s new Archive Series will be out next week via Sam Beam’s own label, Black Cricket Recording Co.
This first installment taps into a set of songs created before Sam was Iron & Wine, when he was making music only to be heard by his family.
While some of this material has been widely bootlegged, it has never received a widespread or proper release.
Check out our First Listen of the release right here.
Pulled from tapes found in the back corners of closets and dusty shoeboxes, the 16 songs comprising Archive Series Volume No. 1 were handpicked as the best companion to Iron & Wine’s debut album, The Creek Drank The Cradle. They present a unique glimpse at an artist in his earliest stages and are a perfect reminder of how we all first heard Sam Beam’s voice – hushed, yet immediately powerful.
To commemorate the release of Archive Series Volume No. 1, Iron & Wine in conjunction with Picture Show created the short film, Iron & Wine: Dreamers and Makers are my Favorite People. It features Beam performing a handful of songs from the release for the first time ever at the Jerry Run Summer Theater in the middle of nowhere Cleveland, WV. The theater, not unlike these recordings, is a testament to the belief that if you build it, they will come. View the trailer at below:
Sam Beam has been creating music as Iron & Wine for more than a decade, and with the Archive Series, he will be gathering otherwise unreleased home recordings, covers, and live sets, from his entire career and releasing them on his own label. Today, you can stream this first album in its entirety via Billboard, and read an exclusive interview with Sam about the Archive Series, his new label and more.
Stream it here.
Additionally, since initially announcing this series, Beam made an appearance on the series finale of Parenthood. He and Rhiannon Giddens performed Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.” Dylan’s recording had been the show’s theme song since it first aired in 2010. The new version by Giddens and Iron & Wine (produced by Joe Henry), which they performed live during the episode at the show’s Luncheonette recording studio, can be heard here.
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