Artist Of The Day: Iron & Wine

Sam Beam has had a large hand in the popularization of indie folk. Along with folks such as The Mountain Goats, Fleet Foxes and of course, the band that comes to everyone's mind for the genre, Mumford & Sons. As far as staying to a particular sound goes, though, Beam has a particularly simple time due to being a solo project, and the biggest perk that comes with being an individual in the music industry is room for creativity. For example, he began with a solely folk-central sound, with a Neil Young sort of style, purely acoustic strings and a fresh sound in the new millennium that we hadn't been accustomed to for quite a while. As he wrote more and more, Beam added other tastes and colors into his music, including electric guitars and brass instruments. He's also explored different types of sounds, delving into traditional Mexican music, pop, jazz and R&B, while keeping the core of Iron & Wine at the base of everything. His most recent effort, April's Ghost On Ghost, expands the pop sounds featured on his previous album, Kiss Each Other Clean, but including some of the experimental jazz style and of course, his folk roots.

Beam will be touring for Ghost On Ghost more extensively in the fall, so take a look for tour dates and locations on his site.