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The Creek Drank the Cradle
Iron & Wine
Retail Price (not our price): $13.98
Release Date: 2002-09-24
Manufacturer: Sub Pop
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1

Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...

Disc 1

Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com
Iron & Wine is Sam Beam, a back-porch Florida singer-songwriter whose sad little songs pack a helluva wallop. Beam's immediately likable tunes paint such clear pictures that songs like "Southern Anthem" and "Muddy Hymnal" are more akin to short stories by Raymond Carver and Flannery O'Connor than to your average pop ditty. Recorded in his living room on a vintage four-track, The Creek Drank the Cradle co-stars cassette hiss, ambient room sound, and Beam himself. A stripped-down, one-man band, Beam contributes delicious Delta-flavored slide guitar, passable banjo, and deliriously beautiful harmonizing. Beam isn't just a songwriter the equal of Will Oldham and Leonard Cohen (really--and it'll be a surprise if folks don't immediately start covering him), the boy can sing. His melt-in-your-head-but-not-in-your-ears voice is instantly recognizable and will certainly please fans of Nick Drake, Lou Barlow, and Elliott Smith. --Mike McGonigal

2) Album Description
Debut album featuring Samuel Beam, they have been on the road with Ugly Casanova (Modest Mouse) and are described as intimate American Gothic style portraits & landscapes. Sub Pop. 2002.

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5

1) The calm during the storm   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
Sam Beam creates music so hushed, subdued and quaint that it's very easy to imagine listening to it and have it float right by without a fuss. There's no doubt that he has the talent for crafting hooks and reeling in his audience with quiet deception, but when you create an album of nothing but soft vocals, banjo and slide guitar, a big arena sound is not what you're going to get (and hurrah to him for that).It requires a few listens to truly get into "Creek" (even while it grabs you early) but affection is not difficult for Beam to squeeze. A rootsy folk album, "Creek" excels at small pauses. The album as a whole follows almost the exact same pace, tone and volume. And even though variety may not have served this brand of music, a few changes here and there might have lifted an otherwise solid album towards the level of greatness. Instead, enjoy the muted "Faded From the Winter," the tight plucking of "The Rooster Moans," and gentle roar of "An Angry Blade." This debut may not shake the earth, but it does surprise in the sort of spare and whispery way that Beam can appreciate.Best cuts: "The Rooster Moans," "An Angry Blade," "Faded From the Winter," "Weary Memory," "Upward Over the Mountain," "Southern Anthem," "Lion's Mane"

2) Great music!   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
Great CD- My wife and I play it with dinner or drinks- very enjoyable.

3) Beautiful simplicity   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
It's amazing the depth of emotion that these songs can evoke in the listener with such simple and delicate means. Many of them are transporting, carrying you along with them almost as if you are in the cradle being carried away by the creek. Also, many of them contain a half-told story, allowing you to imagine characters, relationships, events; but it's done so subtly that you feel the emotion within the story rather than get caught up in the details of a plot. "Weary Memory," "Bird Stealing Bread," "Promising Light," and "Upwards Over the Mountain" are exemplars of this effect. I cry EVERY TIME I listen to "Upwards Over the Mountain" -- a song a son sings to his mother, basically telling her to let him go. I am not a son, nor am I a mother, but the lyrics and the melody and the gently rocking rhythm and the quiet guitars together show me a window into the world of such a relationship, and the nostalgic pain and beauty of the passage of time and the inevitability of children growing up (ie, time -- the creek-- drinking the cradle -- childhood). Sorry for gushing. But Sam Beam is a genius. I am so glad I found this music. I would suggest starting with this one before Endless Numbered Days.

4) Beauty   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
All iron and wine albums have a crazy way of painting a beautiful masterpiece in the mind, with your eyes closed and fully focused on the music its almost like letting yourself get lost in your most beautiful dream. Upwards over the mountain, is an amazing song. I fell asleap after listening to it and it just sets me at so much peace. This album slows life down for you in a way that nothing else can.

5) check this out too   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
I am a huge fan of catchy, quiet folk music with insightful lyrics. If you enjoy this album then I strongly recommend that you check out the following: 1) Ghosts Of The Great Highway by Sun Kil Moon2) Kings Avenue Joe Kile3) Subtitulo by Josh Rouse