“Thanks so much, I’m just going to keep saying that,” Sam Beam bashfully laughs to himself, smiles behind his beard, and looks to the ground. The man behind Iron & Wine is performing his 7th Annual Midwives Benefit at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas. At midnight, Beam releases a new cover album with Band of Horses frontman Ben Bridwell entitled, “Sing Into My Mouth,” but the singer-songwriter never promoted his upcoming album. He was there to play for women’s rights, so he let the charitable cause be the star of the night.

The show was intimate, comfortable, and educational in the warm summer evening of mid-July. The 40-year old, former Austinite played for an hour and 15 minutes, and closed with a two-song encore. The crowd was typical Austin; young, handsome, bearded, although there were families in the audience. Between the songs, Beam couldn’t help but make the crowd chuckle with his introverted sense of humor and rosy-cheeked charm as he dodged the barrage of requests being yelled from the audience, a staple of every Iron & Wine concert.

I paid $35 for my seat in the balcony of the beautiful Paramount theatre, celebrating it’s 100th anniversary of existence this year. With it’s classically simple grandeur, fresco painted ceilings, and comfortable red-padded chairs, there’s not a bad seat in the house.

I look up to Sam Beam, as an Easterner who moved to Austin to play music. He closed his encore set with his classic ballad, “Trapeze Swinger.” The sold out crowd of 320 people was deathly silent in quiet observance of Beam capturing some unexplainable subconscious understanding in his lyrics,

"So please remember me, finally And all my uphill clawing My dear, but if I make the Pearly Gates I'll do my best to make a drawing”

In all the madness of a state capital city, echoing political dysfunction, religious turmoil, injustice and the perpetual struggle of the world, it felt good to take a breath of relief and soak in the music as the stage light shone on Sam Beam in hopeful wonder.

Thanks for reading, until next time.