Sam Amidon

A contemporary folk musician specializing in guitar, fiddle, and banjo, Sam Amidon is known for both his original songs and his often-ambitious updates of traditional folk tunes. While he sometimes combines the two on his albums, two of his most celebrated releases, 2007's All Is Well and 2010's I See the Sign, are almost entirely comprised of folk standards (save one song by R. Kelly on the latter). At another extreme, Amidon's first album of all-original material, 2017's The Following Mountain, found him working with veteran jazz musicians to create a darker and more experimental vision. He mixed traditional works, contemporary folk, and songs originally by Yoko Ono, Ornette Coleman, and Lou Reed on 2025's Salt River. Regardless of sources, his reliably textured, atmospheric arrangements include a singing voice that's gentle but evocative.