The Creek Drank the Cradle is filled with hushed, restrained vocals, affecting lyrics from a naturalist’s perspective, exploring relationships and the hope born from them, all of which come across as though whispered to you personally, accompanied by guitar, banjo, slide guitar… Taken as a whole, The Creek Drank the Cradle, Iron & Wine’s debut album, is an ode to an older South; a part of America that is defined by “traditional values,” pastoral imagery and arcane manners. Or maybe that’s just what we want to hear.