The Creek Drank the Cradle

Beam wrote, performed, recorded and produced the album himself at home in Miami, working on a four-track recorder. The tracks began as demos, and he had meant to pass them to Joey Burns and John Convertino of Calexico, who were to supply a rhythm section. Sub Pop released the demos instead. The vinyl edition came with a bonus 7-inch single, and the record was mastered at RFI Mastering in Seattle.

It scored 87 on Metacritic from 14 reviews, and Pitchfork put it at number 137 on its list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s. AllMusic's Tim Sendra called it "a stunning debut and one of the best records of 2002." Its acoustic guitars, banjo and slide guitar drew comparisons to Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel, Elliott Smith, Neil Young and John Fahey. Reviewing Light Verse in 2024, Pitchfork's Stephen M. Deusner wrote that even on this debut Beam had a flair for dressing up bleak truths in warm melodies.