What makes a good cover? Why play a song that’s already been written? Sam Amidon brings this question into focus with his recent release I See The Light where he writes music much like an excavator, digging through old compositions written by others and rearranging them, recomposing them to sound anew.
Unlike his predecessors that collected folk songs in the Appalachians and rerecorded them in their original arrangements (i.e. A.P. Carter, Harry Smith), Amidon not only takes the songs that he collects, he updates them and makes them contemporary. While it’s It’s a bold statement to take someone’s song and redefine it, a good cover of a song might not be just reinterpreting it, but in celebrating it. Mr. Amidon celebrates these songs in his own voice.
Sam Amidon has a long history of collaborating with projects and artists like Nico Muhly, Ben Frost and Grizzly Bear and now releasing his own solo album, you hear his own voice in homage to others, in redefined celebration.