Iron & Wine Essentials

As the solo project of Samuel Beam, Iron & Wine captured the indie world's attention in 2002 with the gorgeous bedroom folk LP The Creek Drank the Cradle. 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days built on that sound by adding musicians and incorporating layered arrangements, but the breakthrough moment came when Beam's cover of a Postal Service song was featured on the Garden State soundtrack later that year. Since then, Beam has become more ambitious with his music and readily embraces jazz and R&B in his grooves.