24. "Naked As We Came" by Iron and Wine (2004)

Sam Beam's hushed, wistful nostalgia, riddled with half-scriptures and rich Southern romanticism, may be the prettiest folk music in decades. Tears can come easy after a few listens despite the lyrics' decidedly unsentimental approach to love and loss. "Naked As We Came" is representative of a stable filled with achingly beautiful hymns; the song is canonical in every sense of the word. Beam's music imagines backwaters, backwoods, poorhouses, and porches; the subtle, nuanced guitar-playing elevating his lyrics onto some strange spiritual plane. Indeed, Beam's allusions describe lovelorn relationships with Biblical heft. On "Naked As We Came," we get this stunning verse: One will spread our ashes round the yard.

Why listen? Few artists approach Sam Beam's lyrical romanticism or quasi-biblicism. Even without knowing of his art degree and masters in film (he taught film in Miami when he recorded his first album at home), Beam overtly understands the aesthetic possibilities of approaching songcraft as a poet, cinematographer, and musician. The collision of these disciplines is apparent and moving. His last album, The Shepherd's Dog, was an eclectic piece 'de resistance of sorts, moving his music in some interesting against-type directions. Who knows what we will get next?
Something else? "Lion's Mane," "Bird Stealing Bread," "Sunset Soon Forgotten," "Love and Some Verses," "Each Coming Night," "Boy With a Coin," "Flightless Bird American Mouth," "The Trapeze Swinger," "He Lays In the Reins" (with Calexico).