When Sam Beam stepped into the spotlight on Iron and Wine's 2002 debut, he was a novelty act. That acoustic guitar, that soothingly sweet tenor voice, that flowing mountain-man beard? Pop music hadn't seen anything like it since the heyday of Cat Stevens. But Beam's songs -- sincere folk churners full of backwoods beauty and subtle psychedelia -- had a weird magic all their own.
Since then, indie rock has been overrun by extravagantly bearded, achingly earnest balladeers, but Beam started running away from the pack on 2007's "The Shepherd's Dog," which juiced limpid melodies with dashes of Appalachian folk and West African rock.
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