Finally, something worthwhile comes from Florida. Forget about the Backstreet Boys, Walt Disney World and Jeb Bush. The state has managed to produce a deeply stirring songwriter in Miami's Sam Beam, who performs as Iron and Wine. Clearly, the eternal sunshine and factory-made fun have done little to spoil the autumnal hues of Beam's daydreams. Our Endless Numbered Days is a masterpiece of Americana and folk balladry. Despite their simplicity, the gently plucked guitars, lilting slide notes and banjo cameos carry a remarkable emotional load. "Teeth in the Grass" haunts Appalachian bluegrass; the even sparser "Radio War" could be a Civil War relic. Fans of the late, great Nick Drake will find a kindred spirit in Beam, who conjures Drake's ghostly melancholy on "Naked as We Come" and "Love and Some Verses." Both are simple acoustic songs whose ethereal beauty and breathy intimations could only have been written between midnight and sunrise. But Beam's greatest gift is his poetic sense. When he delivers gems like And Sodom, South Georgia/Slept on an acre of bones/Slept through Christmas/Like a bucket of snow, the world falls away completely. Let's see Jeb top that.
