Live Music Ahoy! Newport Festival Saturday
July 29, 2009
The Newport Folk Festival celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. We’ll be there on Saturday, August 1. Here’s a playlist featuring some of the acts I expect to see (and led me to favor Saturday over Sunday, despite the fact that Neko Case is playing on Sunday).
Boy With a Coin Video
January 12, 2008
The video for the Iron & Wine single shows Sam Beam playing the song while flamenco dancers do their thing. I think it’s lovely; see what you think.
There’s more about it at Stereogum, including a link to some remarks by the director, Lauri Faggioni.
Iron, Wine, and Sleep
December 29, 2007
My favorite album of 2007 usually helps my son (15 months) get to sleep. Sleep was tougher than usual tonight, for him and for his sister, so much so that it seems appropriate that one of the tracks is “The Devil Never Sleeps.”
Here’s Iron & Wine, in the current 8-piece form, doing it on Letterman.
Iron & Wine Album My Favorite of 2007
December 13, 2007
I adore this year’s album from Iron & Wine, even more now than when I first posted about it. That’s partly because I can put it on when holding my baby son at night, and it soothes him as it interests me.
The tracks fall on a continuum from a rather sparse sound, similar to what Sam Beam did on previous I&W albums, to a fuller sound. My favorite example of the fuller sound is the opening track, “Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car.” I love the “hey, ma, listen to all these instruments we found in the barn” feel. See if you do too:
But my favorite track from the album is one of the sparser ones: “Resurrection Fern.” You can find it, along with an envy-inducing account of a live I&W show, at Lonesome Music.
So my favorite album of 2007, barring some sudden revelation in the next couple of weeks, is The Shepherd’s Dog. (I’m not sure that I can make claims about the best album of 2007.)
