“The Desert Babbler” by Iron and Wine

"The Desert Babbler" comes from Ghost on Ghost, the fifth full-length Iron and Wine album, out on 4AD and Nonesuch in April 2013. Sam Beam wrote it, sings it, plays guitar and co-produced with Brian Deck, and he surrounded himself with a roomy band: Brian Blade on drums and percussion, Tony Garnier on bass, Rob Burger on piano and arrangement, Briggan Krauss on saxophone, Doug Wieselman on reeds and Paul Niehaus on pedal steel.

That lineup tells you where the album was headed. Ghost on Ghost leans into jazz, pop and R&B, loose-limbed and relaxed where Beam's two previous records had carried an anxious tension he wanted to shake off.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.