The Shepherd's Dog
by Iron & Wine
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Iron & Wine bestography
The Shepherd's Dog is ranked 2nd best out of 18 albums by Iron & Wine on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Iron & Wine is Our Endless Numbered Days which is ranked number 1126 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 1,553.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to The Shepherd's Dog on YouTube
The Shepherd's Dog track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 81 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
The Shepherd's Dog rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 2 hours ago)
covecove
Hayden
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Repo
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The Shepherd's Dog ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 5 ratings for this album. | Show all 198 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 07/19/2026 01:35 | Exist-en-ciel | 15,437 | 70/100 |
| ! | 03/24/2026 23:31 |  Milhaud | 2,132 | 71/100 |
| ! | 02/28/2026 00:07 | DaveH68 | 1,363 | 76/100 |
| ! | 01/01/2026 02:41 | Scrabbler | 288 | 76/100 |
| ! | 12/29/2025 17:40 | mutant | 1,671 | 56/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 3% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 77.0/100, a mean average of 76.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 77.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.
The Shepherd's Dog favourites
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The Shepherd's Dog comments
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JulianR 10/19/2018 04:48 | #222746
Such a beautiful album. The songs have a really amazing quality to them, sometimes dreamy, sometimes groovy, sometimes in between, but always quite unique. I find the rhythms on this album so engaging and interesting for some reason, despite their simplicity. Like on Peace Beneath The City, it's held together by a simple little swing beat emphasized by two hand claps, but something about it just implies so much more grooviness than this song justifies. I don't know how
85/100 (Very Good)
A beautiful laid back album.
pearljammer13 04/27/2013 12:21 | #74558 | TOP COMMENT
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Every one of Sam Beam's albums have grown immensely on me since discovering Iron And Wine, even though I loved them all from the start. The contrast between this and The Creek Drank The Cradle is immense, yet both are absolute masterpieces. He's taken a couple small steps back in my eyes since this album, but all 5 LPs are well worth listening to.
Real gem right here. Much more progressive than his previous albums and after a first listen I can tell it'll be a grower. He creates some really rich, reverberated landscapes of sound which is something unique with folk, but works surprisingly well.
One of my all-time favourite albums. As many people have commented on different albums that mean a lot to them, I can't understand why this isnt ranked higher ... especially the #44 ranking in 2007 albums.
jhuik 06/23/2012 16:15 | #45164 | TOP COMMENT
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Lo fi indie of the highest order. Resurrection Fern is undeniably gorgeous.
paladisiac 12/14/2011 14:37 | #32930 | TOP COMMENT
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I have loved the progression Sam Beam has taken from "Creek Drank the Cradle", especially his last two EPs "In The Reins" and "Woman King". He doesn't sound like he's simply writing odes to marshlands anymore. He has some verve and determination and something resembling rock all the while maintaining the poet-on-his-backwood-porch appeal. He continues his progression to a more assertive "rock" sound on "The Shepherd's Dog".
pearljammer13 12/11/2011 23:01 | #32712 | TOP COMMENT
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Very good album. Definitely cool how he expands his sound a little bit with each album...doesn't stagnate like a lot of artists.
RaineyWins 09/09/2010 06:07 | #15022
Flightless Bird, American Mouth is beautiful
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