Calexico and Iron & Wine Announce New Album Years to Burn, Share Wistful Lead Single “Father Mountain”

It's Joey Burns, John Convertino and Sam Beam's first collaboration in nearly 15 years

Music News Calexico and Iron & Wine
Calexico and Iron & Wine Announce New Album Years to Burn, Share Wistful Lead Single “Father Mountain”

Our watch says it’s time to get excited: Two contributors to Paste’s list of the best indie-folk albums of all time are combining their considerable forces for the first time in over a decade.

Calexico (Joey Burns and John Convertino) and Iron & Wine (Sam Beam) have announced Years to Burn—the trio’s first collaboration since their 2005 In the Reins EP, not to mention their first full-length album together—due out June 14 via Sub Pop/City Slang. Our first taste of the album has arrived, as well, in the form of its idyllic lead single “Father Mountain.” Rounding out all this good news is an extensive set of North American, European and U.K. joint tour dates, more of which will be added in the weeks to come.

Burns, Convertino and Beam recorded their new album at Nashville’s fabled Sound Emporium studio with producer Matt Ross-Spang (Jason Isbell, Margo Price). Years to Burn features 10 new compositions spanning eight distinct tracks, with Beam handling the bulk of the songwriting alongside Burns, Convertino and their studio contributors: longtime Calexico trumpet player Jacob Valenzuela and Paul Niehaus on pedal steel, with frequent Beam collaborators Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio) on piano and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple) on bass.

“Life is hard. Awesome. And scary as shit. But it can lift you up if you let it,” Beam says of the album. “These are the things Joey and I write about now. And the title can encapsulate a lot of things. Years to Burn could mean you’re cocky, you’ve got it made. Or, our life is ours to burn, to be inspired. Or you’re burned by life, brutalized. It’s an ambiguous title, because life is complicated. Let’s not talk like teenagers about love, desire, pain, ‘cause we’re not teenagers. And that’s not a bad thing.”

“This project had to find the right time,” adds Burns. “We’re all different people than we were in 2004, and music helps to bridge some of the gaps. For all the things going on in our world and in each of our lives, this connection, this friendship, this love that we have—this album is a vehicle for that bond. It’s a chance to see where we’re at, take stock and be there for our friends.”

The inner peace that comes with that age and experience certainly shines through on “Father Mountain,” a jangly, pastoral reverie that takes on the fuzzy haze of fond memories slowly fading. “Everyone knows and they don’t know / chandelier light ain’t low / They just watch as the time goes,” sings a wistful Beam, looking back on simpler days.

Listen to “Father Mountain” below, along with Calexico and Iron & Wine performances from the Paste archives, and find the details of Years to Burn further down, along with the bands’ new tour dates. You can preorder their new album here.

Years to Burn Tracklist:
01. What Heaven’s Left
02. Midnight Sun
03. Father Mountain
04. Outside El Paso
05. Follow The Water
06. The Bitter Suite (Pájaro / Evil Eye / Tennessee Train)
07. Years To Burn
08. In Your Own Time

Years to Burn Album Art:

calexicoironandwine-yearstoburn-art.jpg

Calexico and Iron & Wine World Tour Dates:

June
18 – Saxapahaw, N.C. @ River Ballroom

July
19 – Lisbon, Portugal @ Super Bock Super Rock
20 – Arlesheim, Switzerland @ Stimmen Festival
22 – Milano, Italy @ La Triennale di Milano
23 – Gardone Rivieria, Italy @ Anfiteatro del Vittoriale
24 – Rome, Italy @ Villa Ada
25 – Florence, Italy @ Cavea del Nuovo Teatro dell’opera
26 – Monforte D’Alba, Italy @ Auditorium Horszowski
28 – Vienna, Austria @ Konzerthaus
29 – Palma, Spain @ Auditorium de Palma de Mallorca
31 – Hamburg, Germany @ Stadtpark

August
02 – Cambridge, U.K. @ Cambridge Folk Festival
03 – Leuven, Belgium @ M-idzommer Festival
04 – Crozon, France @ Festival Du Bout Du Monde
16 – Phoenix, Ariz. @ Orpheum Theatre
17 – Tucson, Ariz. @ Rialto Theatre
21 – Ogden, Utah @ Twilight Series at Ogden Amphitheater
22 – Boise, Idaho @ Knitting Factory
23 – Portland, Ore. @ Keller Auditorium
24 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Vogue Theatre

September
22 – North Adams, Mass. @ FreshGrass Festival

November
05 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ TrivoliVrendenburg – Ronda
06 – Luxembourg, Luxembourg @ Den Atelier
07 – Antwerp, Belgium @ De Roma
09 – Berlin, Germany @ Tempodrom
10 – Linz, Austria @ Posthof
11 – Munich, Germany @ Muffathalle
12 – Budapest, Hungary @ Müpa
14 – Mannheim, Germany @ Musensaal Rosengarten
15 – Cologne, Germany @ Palladium
16 – Paris, France @ La Cigale
18 – Edinburgh, U.K. @ Usher Hall *
19 – Liverpool, U.K. @ Philharmonic Hall *
20 – Manchester, U.K. @ Bridgewater Hall *
21 – Coventry, U.K. @ Warwick Arts Centre *
23 – London, U.K. @ Royal Festival Hall *
24 – Bexhill-on-Sea, U.K. @ De La Warr Pavillion *

(* – with support from Lisa O’Neill)

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