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Live From The Current Studio

Iron & Wine performs live in The Current studios

Sam Beam sound checking in The Current studios.
Sam Beam sound checking in The Current studios.MPR / Nate Ryan
  Play Now [3:16]

by Steve Seel, Iron & Wine and Leah Garaas

September 19, 2013

Iron & Wine - Grace for Saints and Ramblers
by MPR
Iron & Wine - Winter Prayers
by MPR
Iron & Wine In-studio
by MPR

For those of you who have followed Sam Beam's career, you know that all five Iron & Wine albums have a distinct sound. Referring to 2011's Kiss Each Other Clean, Beam says, "You had to dance, but you had to be mad about it." On his new record released earlier this year, Sam agrees with Steve Seel of The Current's Morning Show that Ghost on Ghost has, "slightly less tension... It glides."

For Beam, autumn has always represented rebirth, and like the seasons, his song arrangements are always changing. "It's never the same hallway for me," he says. Fall may not officially arrive for another four days, but Beam wished us well and ended his session with "Winter Prayers". "This goes out to all my friends in Minneapolis and St. Paul," Beam says. "I don't know who answers your winter prayers, but good luck."

Listen to the entire session to hear Steve Seel talk with Sam Beam about Beam's difficulty memorizing a decade's worth of lyrics, having a soft spot for heavy metal, and what made recording Ghost on Ghost so unique.

Songs Performed


"Caught in the Briars"
"Grace for Saints and Ramblers"
"Winter Prayers"

All songs off Ghost on Ghost, out now on 4AD/Nonesuch Records.

Hosted by Steve Seel
Engineered by Mike DeMark
Produced by Derrick Stevens