Calexico And Iron & Wine Stream New Album ‘Years To Burn’

Calexico and Iron & Wine shared their upcoming new album, Years To Burn. The collaborative album is available to stream via NPR Music’s First Listen series in advance of its official June 14 release.

Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam and Calexico’s Joey Burns and John Convertino recorded Years To Burn with producer Matt Ross-Spang at Nashville’s Sound Emporium. The full-length record serves as the follow-up to the 2005 collaborative EP, In The Reins, and features Calexico trumpeter Jacob Valenzuela and pedal steel guitarist Paul Niehaus. Also contributing were pianist Rob Burger and bassist Sebastian Steinberg.

“Life is hard. Awesome. And scary as shit. But it can lift you up if you let it,” Beam stated. “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,” said Covertino. “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.”

Stream Iron & Wine and Calexico’s Years To Burn at NPR Music.