| at nonesuch.com with an instant download of the album track "Walkin' Boss," which premiered today at Stereogum.
"Walkin' Boss" is one of the first songs I learned on the banjo, by playing along with a recording by Jeff Davis as a teenager," Amidon said. "As it happens this is also the first tune that we recorded during the sessions, on a crisp October morning in Reykjavik."
Frisell has been a hero of Amidon's since the young Vermont native first heard the guitarist play at the Village Vanguard during a teenage visit to New York City. The two musicians stayed in touch and had their first live collaboration in 2011; not long after, Amidon began contemplating a return to Iceland to make a third album at Sigurðsson's Greenhouse Studios. He eventually invited Frisell to join him and Sigurðsson, along with Ismaily and Vatalaro, to record what became Lily-O.
"I decided to put us all in a room together in Reykjavik for a few days," Amidon said. "I knew if I got Bill together with those guys they would get into a deep situation. I imagined that we would do something weird and fiddle-based, but when we got in there it just felt great to sing the songs I had gathered. Recording took about four days. I'd teach them the basic structure of the song; we'd do a few takes, and move on to a new one. There's maybe one or two overdubs but otherwise you're hearing what we played."
Lily-O's 10 songs are mostly traditional folk songs gathered from disparate sources and refashioned in Amidon's signature way (complete track list follows). The interplay between the four musicians is informed by their backgrounds in improvised music and the spontaneous nature of the sessions. As always, the central element is Amidon's voice, which, in his deceptively understated manner, tells tales of adventure, love, violence and redemption.
Lily-O follows four albums by Amidon including his 2013 Nonesuch debut, Bright Sunny South. 2010's I See The Sign and 2008's All Is Well were made for the Icelandic label Bedroom Community and featured orchestral arrangements by composer Nico Muhly. Along the way Amidon has performed worldwide in myriad contexts, collaborating with musicians such as Muhly, Thomas Bartlett/Doveman, Beth Orton and Glen Hansard. He has appeared as a guest artist on recent albums by Tune-Yards, Aoife O'Donovan and the Blind Boys of Alabama.
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Sam Amidon 2014 Tour Dates
| Aug 13 |
Kilkenny Arts Festival |
Kilkenny, IE |
| Sept 20 |
Brooklyn Academy of Music |
Brooklyn, NY |
| Sept 21 |
Mass MoCA |
North Adams, MA |
| Oct 16 |
The Barns at Wolf Trap |
Vienna, VA |
| Oct 20 |
The Parlor Room |
Northampton, MA |
| Nov 16 |
EFG London Jazz Festival |
London, UK |
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Lily-O Track List
1. Walkin' Boss
2. Down the Line
3. Blue Mountains
4. Pat Do This, Pat Do That
5. Lily-O
6. Groundhog Variations
7. Won't Turn Back
8. Maid Lamenting
9. Your Lone Journey
10. Devotion
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