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Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop celebrate each other

Sam Beam of Iron and Wine hasn’t ever strayed away from the chance to collaborate with amazing musicians and song writers. Jesca Hoop is a longtime fan of Beam and Iron and Wine, so she jumped at the opportunity to have him play on one of her tracks. That first collaboration spawned into an amazing album that came out this year, Love Letter for Fire. The two took their collaboration on the road and played a picturesque and quaint show at the Civic Theater. They brought along with them Marlon Williams to open.

New Zealand native Marlon Williams has put a new twist on Americana music and brought along cellist Ben Edwards to tour with him. The two harmonized together and had a genuine love for the music they were playing. They served as the perfect opener for Beam and Hoop.

To say Beam and Hoop have respect for each other would be a massive understatement. The two were fans of each other’s music well before the Fire collaboration. So when it came time to tour they each agreed to choose songs from the others catalogue to cover.

Beam’s name is almost always followed by the parenthetical: (Iron and Wine). This collaboration should lesson that punch, but only time will tell. The set was of course mostly the ST album, but it did include Iron and Wine tunes as well as some beautiful Hoop songs and a few unreleased tracks. There was also an amazing cover of the Bee Gee’s “Islands in the Stream.” It was nothing like the Kenny Rodgers/Dolly Parton version, which made it all the more better and awe worthy. The two were backed by three amazing musicians who made a full sound come off even bolder and passionate.   The evening’s encore was an Iron and Wine cover, “Carousel.”

If you went into the evening expecting an Iron and Wine lover fest or a Hoopla you clearly would have been disappointed, but then again you would have missed the point. The Beam/Hoop album is clearly influenced by each other’s work and the quaint stage set of antique lamps helped hammer that point home. You can see more pictures here.

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