Iron & Wine & Ben Bridewell pack Union Transfer

Tuesday at Union Transfer, Iron & Wine - sobriquet of folk-rocker Sam Beam - joined close friend and Band of Horses front man Ben Bridwell for a sold-out, all-ages show that filled the 2,000-capacity venue's floor space and balcony alike.

The Philly stop was the latest on a tour promoting the fruits of their collaboration, Sing Into My Mouth, a covers album jointly released July 17 by Beam's Black Cricket and Bridwell's Brown Records, with support from independent distributor Caroline.

Titled after lyrics from its first track, Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)," the 12-song compilation veers from the twangy, bluesy comfort of folk and country to the edgier flavors of experimental and space rock.

Beam and Bridwell have down-home accents from growing up in South Carolina, at turns honeyed and nasal, and they each sport definitive facial hair - Beam's bushy and sagacious, Bridwell's short and scruffy. They were also foils in attire: the former dressed in black velvet jacket, the latter in plaid button-down, jeans, and baseball cap.

These elements made for a natural onstage rapport, creating a warm atmosphere in the bustling space.

Opening for the duo was Lydia Loveless, whose music is best described as honky-tonk's brasher, punkier older cousin. She set the stage for an evening that ebbed and flowed with high-watt vigor and slow-simmering sensitivity.

For their first number, Beam and Bridwell, joined by four-piece backup, played a Sing Into My Mouth track, "Done This One Before," by Englishman and Small Faces founder Ronnie Lane. Bridwell treated Lane's tune, like most in the night's set, with a quavering evangelical earnestness. From time to time, he shut his eyes as though drifting in waves of sonic nirvana, an Everyman prophet.

That same earnestness returned full force for his rendition of David Gilmour/Pink Floyd's "There's No Way Out of Here," the show's finale and a moment of nihilistic bliss.

Meanwhile, Beam stood out on the Sade standby "Bullet Proof Soul," also on Sing. His steady voice filled lyrics tinged with lovelorn anguish ("Hit me like a slow bullet / Like a slow bullet") with candor.

The musical partnership between the soulful singers reached a peak when they covered each other's songs, sprinkled artfully throughout the show. Highlights were Band of Horses' "No One's Gonna Love You," which built to a melodic swell sans backup, and Beam's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth," on which Bridwell took lead vocals.

Set as relief against the Bible Belt mythos of Beam and Bridwell's original songs, which have lyrics like "Heaven's a distance, not a place" (Beam's "Two Hungry Blackbirds"), it was the Sing tracks that stood out in the end.