Iron & Wine Keep the Volume Low But Spirits High

Iron & Wine's calm folk-rock demanded peace and quiet, and for the most part, got it from a very polite crowd. Backed by a band that, akin to its leader's razor-repellent facial hair, seems to grow with each passing month, frontman Sam Beam looked freshly aroused from a long nap. The group never detoured from the sleepy pace, relying on wood-block percussion and pedal-steel guitars to patiently trek through the sonic equivalent of the Amazon forest. At first glance, Iron & Wine's lullabies seemed a tailor-made match for playing to parents and children over on the nearby Kidz Stage. But seedy matter lurked underneath the otherwise tranquil exteriors of "House by the Sea" and "The Devil Never Sleeps." And their soothing moods and hammock-sway slowness encouraged a few adult pursuits — joint smoking, beer sipping, tripping — still off limits to the stroller set. Yet the muted aura occasionally dragged, a risk taken by any band traveling in the direction of a more strung-out version of the Grateful Dead.

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Song Stories

“Is It True”

Brenda Lee | 1964

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."

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