Iron & Wine plays The Center Theater in Jackson. On this solo acoustic tour, Sam Bream brings old favorites and songs from “Light Verse,” Iron & Wine’s seventh full-length album, to life. Fashioned as an album to be taken as a whole, it sounds lovingly handmade and self-assured as a secret handshake.

While this may be Iron & Wine’s most playful record, frontman Sam Beam says the title mostly reflects the way the songs were born with joy after the heaviness and anxiety of the pandemic. Where recent records like Beast Epic or Weed Garden gave air to the disquiet of middle-aged frailty and brokenness, these songs trade that for the focus acceptance can bring. Moment by moment, they delight in being pointed or silly (or both) and attempt beauty over prettiness.