New Nonesuch signing Sam Amidon is bringing his unique brand of folk our way for two intimate Australian shows, playing tonight in Melbourne at the Toff In Town and tomorrow in Sydney as part of the FBi social.
We reached out to Sam and asked him to run us through 10 tunes that have influenced him and he was nice enough to comply, Check them out below and open your ears to some stuff you’ve most probably never heard before (The Bessie Jones joint is ridiculously good!)
1. “Lough Eirne Shore” - Andy Irvine and Paul Brady
This is some of the most profound singing that has ever been recorded and their self-titled album is the acoustic-Irish-folk-song equivalent of “Electric Ladyland” by Jimi Hendrix.
2. “Roscoe” - Bill Frisell
His album Good Dog Happy Man changed my life, it was like a gift. “Here! here Sam, here is music that was made for your ears to hear.”
3. “Way Go, Lily” - Bessie Jones
From Put Your Hand On Your Hip And Let Your Backbone Slip. Bessie Jones, singing children’s playground games with kids in the Georgia Sea Islands in the 1960s. she creates an entire Wu-Tang Clan beat and anticipates Tony Williams’ ride cymbal playing with Miles Davis in 1963 with her tambourine alone. anything you ever need to know about rhythm you can learn from listening to her tambourine playing on this track.
4. “The Colour Of Spring” - Mark Hollis
This of course is an extremely beautiful solo album by the leader of Talk Talk. The pacing and sense of calm on this track is very intense. is that Jimi Hendrix on piano?
5. “Shepherd o Shepherd” - Martin Carthy
The most badass of British folk troubadours. this is shredding. if you look up “shredding” in the dictionary, there is a picture of Jimi Hendrix which is crossed out and this recording is put next to it in its place. This is one of the recordings that inspired me to ask the engineer Jerry Boys to record my album.
6. “Noah Black Ark” - Arthur Doyle
Arthur Doyle is a saxophonist and singer and recorder player. he is from the ancient past and the ancient future by way of Albert Ayler / Sun Ra / Leadbelly. His album, “The Songwriter,” is where he creates an entire kaleidoscopic universe in 40 minutes, purely by mumbling and saxophoning into his tape recorder.
7. “Ondina” - Arto Lindsay
Taken from Prize One of my favorite albums, by the greatest songwriter of the late 1900s.
8. “The Wind Cries Mary” - Marc Ribot
From the album Rootless Cosmopolitans. Marc Ribot = seer.
9. “Koalas” - Mitch Hedberg
From the album Strategic Grill Locations. I think you could learn as much about rhythm and space and melody from listening to this album, by the great comedian Mitch Hedberg, as from any Miles Davis album.
10. “The Mystery Song” - Steve Lacy and Don Cherry
From the album Evidence. Don Cherry was the original ‘world’ musician in the best sense of that word… he traveled the world and funneled all of the sounds and melodies he came across into his trumpet playing. His goal i think was to achieve a state of pure melody… it’s an elusive goal but he got there at least a few times i think. or maybe he was always there!
