Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison
Mother I lost it, all of the fear of the Lord I was given
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
Mother forgive me, I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you
So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons could be birds, taken broken up to the mountain
–Upward Over the Mountain, Iron & Wine
I didn’t have much enthusiasm to write this morning, gray as it is at the beginning of another rainy day. I looked for some music and a version of a song, Upward Over the Mountain, I like very much from Iron & Wine came on. It was a live video of Sam Beam, who is Iron & Wine, performing the song, accompanied by singer/songwriter Andrew Bird, outdoors in the beautiful Yosemite Valley.
The combination of the setting and song really hit home for me. Seeing Yosemite’s charms made me yearn to wander through that place again and the song reminded me of the redemptive power of nature. For me, there is a soothing balm found amidst rock and wood and water.
In those places, I always feel a little less broken.
When we visited Yosemite years ago, it was in late November and the place was fairly empty. Getting up early each morning, we seldom encountered anyone else on the trails and it was easy to feel special in that place. Somehow closer to a fullness that we seldom can see in our day to day lives.
Seeing those same locales as shown in this newly released video, which also contains a performance of Iron & Wine’s Call It Dreaming, brought back those feelings. It also renewed my appreciation the setting in which I live now and sometime fail to see for all its familiarity and the shadows in the mind that obscure the charms of the hills and woods and water around me.
It’s worth a watch and a listen, at least in my opinion, for what its worth.
Redtree Times 
I’ve never come across anyone else who’s mentioned Iron and Wine. I was hooked by “Freedom Hangs Like Heaven.” It seemed like the perfect song: so perfect that it was months before I listened to another. I didn’t even know that Iron and Wine was a ‘him’ rather than a ‘them.’
I finally looked at his website just now, and discovered that he was planning to tour with Calexico — a group also unknown to far too many. It’s going to be a good music morning around here, at least until the coffee is gone and I head out.
Thanks for pushing me to finally listen to Calexico. I had seen the name a number of times but just never got around to listening. I am liking their work very much.