The Goodish – Music Blog -

I think I owe Joshua Tillman an apology.

I picked up Vacilando Territory Blues months ago, gave it a few listens and lazily let it slip to the bottom of a growing playlist. It stayed there until last week, when I heard Tillman’s breathtaking Daytrotter Session, recorded in Austin during this year’s South by Southwest music conference.

The session’s four songs highlight what I like best about Tillman’s songwriting: his patience. He lets the right amount of space into his music, allowing his clear voice and emotive lyrics to do their work. On the Daytrotter Sessions, those spaces also let in the sounds of the room: a creaking chair and a singing bird outside the window. Serendipitous sounds that don’t distract, but in fact, give life to these recordings.

The session includes the alt-gospel “Master’s House”–for me, the highlight of Vacilando Territory Blues. It contains some of Tillman’s most potent lyrics, including the line “How easily the heart of man is tamed.” Indeed.

J Tillman – “Master’s House”

Daytrotter is a goldmine. You can download J. Tillman’s session and many, many others here.

Vacilando Territory Blues is out now on Western Vinyl.

Next week, Iron and Wine will release Around the Well, a two-disc collection of rare and unreleased songs. Among the early home recordings, studio outtakes and hard-to-find covers, is “The Trapeze Swinger,” written and recorded for the film, In Good Company. The tender epic is one of Sam Beam’s most endearing songs. With his distinct voice and finger-picked guitar, Beam considers fleeting love and death and offers the most gentle use of the phrase “Fuck the man” you will ever hear. It’s a song that stops me in my tracks and turns over in my head long after its nine-and-a-half minutes are done. Around the Well is out May 19 via Sub Pop.

In conjunction with the release, Iron and Wine is offering free digital downloads of eight acoustic outtakes from The Shepherd’s Dog. Get them here.

Iron and Wine – The Trapeze Swinger

Iron and Wine – Flightless Bird, American Mouth (Alternate Version)

Iron and Wine is touring right now, and they aren’t stopping anywhere near Texas.

(We got some new live footage of William Elliott Whitmore doing “Hell or High Water”)

WEW WOW’d us at Downtown Brew on Thursday night. He put on an excellent show despite the large amount of whiskey that was presented to him by his loyal fans.  He took it like a man and graciously drank what was offered, showing no signs of sway in his performance.  William is impressive on several levels: his voice, his banjo playing, but most of all, his humble approach is what makes him a pleasure to watch.  I hope to see this guy touring for years to come.   You can check another clip of his song “Take it on the Chin” on YouTube.

William Elliott Whitmore’s latest, Animals in the Dark, is out now on ANTI-.