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ACL review: Iron and Wine
Iron and Wine’s performance two years ago at the 2006 Austin City Limits festival was a memorable one, distinctively more rock-and-roll than the quiet Southern Gothic feel of the albums. Since then singer/songwriter/guitarist Sam Beam has released “The Shepherd’s Dog,” a recording which, while it holds on to a lot of the charm of his earlier work, moves in a more jammy, psychedelic direction. That evolution was on display during tonight’s set, as the band only stopped playing a handful of times, otherwise segueing from song to song a la The Grateful Dead.
When Beam toured on “The Shepherd’s Dog” in 2007, he stuck mostly to the new material, to mixed reviews. In was a bit of a relief tonight that he returned to some of his best work, including songs such as “Woman King” and “Bird Stealing Bread.” There was a somewhat jazzy feel to the tunes, and the band layered the songs with a lot of percussion as well as a little bit of accordion. The ambient feel didn’t please everyone, as someone nearby commented, “more iron, less wine.”
Beam finished up the set with emotional versions of “Cinder and Smoke” and “Trapeze Singer,” which left the crowd begging for more.
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