from:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=100355474\
0

Iron & Wine In A Playful Mood On New Album
Sam Beam
March 07, 2007, 2:45 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

After recording an EP and touring with Calexico, as
well as taking time off to rear his infant daughter,
Iron & Wine principal Sam Beam has wrapped his next
studio album, "The Shepherd's Dog." The 12-track set
is due in late September via Sub Pop and will be
supported with a two-month fall tour of North America
and Europe.

"That tour affected me a lot," Beam tells
Billboard.com of his time spent with Calexico.
"They're such good musicians. I already knew I wanted
to do a much freer record; a little bit more of a
playful record. Their influence just helped me even
more."

Beam says the new album has a "wider sonic palette"
than anything he's previously released. Among the
guests are Calexico's Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus, Tin
Hat Trio accordionist Rob Burger and Califone's Brian
Deck. "There's some waltzes, reggae-influenced stuff
and some straight-up West African highlife music," he
says, the latter style of which crops up on "House by
the Sea."

A single, likely led by album track "Boy With a Coin,"
is being eyed for a summer release backed by two of
the four songs from the "Shepherd's Dog" sessions that
did not make the final cut. "It's got an
African-sounding guitar thing. It's kind of familiar,
but at the same time pretty indicative of the
playfulness of this new record," Beam says of "Boy
With a Coin."

With the exception of "Carousel," every song had its
basis in a backlog of material that Beam has been
gradually chipping away at for years. "It's still
pretty sizable," he admits. "I'm already working on
the next one. A lot of them, you think you're on the
right track, but when it comes time to record, they
don't seem different enough."

"The Shepherd's Dog" is the follow-up to 2004's "Our
Endless Numbered Days," which has sold nearly 200,000
copies in the United States, according to Nielsen
SoundScan. Beam attributes the three-year gap in new
albums to working in his new home studio. "This is the
first time I was ever actually able to do some stuff
and then sit on it for awhile and react to what we'd
done," he says. "I ended up taking a lot longer,
basically just because I had the time."

Here is the track list for "The Shepherd's Dog":

"Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car"
"White Tooth Man"
"Lovesong of the Buzzard"
"Carousel"
"House by the Sea"
"Innocent Bones"
"Wolves (Song of the Shepherd's Dog)"
"Resurrection Fern"
"Boy with a Coin"
"The Devil Never Sleeps"
"Peace Beneath the City"
"Flightless Bird, American Mouth"




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