Sam has developed his own strong style as a singer and multi-instrumentalist over six highly-regarded albums of reworked folk songs and original material, and has flirted with jazz mavericks before. After playing with Bill Frisell in a past version of the Jazz Festival, his new album features a guest appearance by drummer Milford Graves. Uncut magazine chose The Following Mountain as one of their albums of the year, saying ‘Sam Amidon’s first album of original songs feels like a liberation.  He’s still steeped in the argot of weird Appalachia, but there is a loose, improvisational sensibility to these performances’