Sam is performing at Kings Place with Pekka Kuusisto and members of the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra on 24 February as part of the ‘Platoon Presents’ series to launch their new album Willows – more information here: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/classical/pekka-kuusisto-sam-amidon-and-the-musicians-of-the-norwegian-chamber-orchestra/
What has been the most rewarding and most challenging aspect of bringing your music into dialogue with a chamber orchestra setting, particularly working with Pekka Kuusisto and Nico Muhly’s arrangements for this concert?
It’s always an incredible feeling to sing in this context, amidst the orchestral musicians and Nico’s arrangements. I have a little more concentrating to do than normal, because my songs are full of varying phrase lengths and gaps between verses which change from performance to performance, but when connected to a scored arrangement have to be consistent. So I have to know all these correct timings and spacings which are taken from my initial recorded rendition of the songs. But that concentration is helps with my overall focus as a performer and mainly my goal is just to sing the songs well in the midst of all the beautiful music going on around me.
Your recent album Salt River reflects a synthesis of folk roots and experimental textures — how have your motivations and inspirations shifted since your early reinterpretations of traditional songs?
It’s always the same… I’m interested in creativity, I’m interested in inspiration, I’m interesting in collaborating with musicians I love and who bring me joy. All of my albums have been about creating a space of joy and play amongst friends together, in different forms each time. Salt River was the form of spending those days with Sam Gendel, Philippe Melanson, and Sam’s partner Marcella Cytrynowicz, playing music, working on a crossword puzzle, and eating together. The album is what emerged out of those days together.
Your music is known for its emotional depth and narrative quality — how do you see storytelling operating in instrumental and vocal music alike, and what role does silence or subtlety play in that storytelling?
There is a quote from the ballad singer Almeda Riddle. She is talking about her approach to singing long narrative ballads, and she says, “you have to get behind the song.” I feel the same way as a singer… you can be expressive but still stay ‘out of the way’ of the narrative the song is telling. I love the storytelling aspect of ballads and I spend a lot of time thinking about how to give them a musical setting that will tease out different sides of the emotion in the story than have maybe been done before with those songs.
Having grown up in Vermont, lived in the United States and Europe, and now based in London, has your sense of place changed the way you approach your music, and if so, how does that transatlantic identity inform your work on projects like the Willows programme?
Growing up in Vermont, my first instrument was the fiddle. The New England fiddle tradition is very connected to traditional Irish music (as well as French Canadian music), so I already had a deep connection to Ireland and the music there. Then when I moved to London it was to be with my wife Beth Orton. Through Beth I learned more about the great UK tradition of acoustic guitarists including Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. My writing on the guitar was very influenced by these artists, as well as Beth herself. The music we will be performing in Willows connects both to these British Isles traditions, and to the Appalachian folksongs that I am singing in the programme.