Sam Amidon – NPR Album Review: “Like nothing else around” – New Peak at CMJ

Vermont-born singer, guitarist, fiddler and banjo player Sam Amidon’s newest album Lily-O was recently featured on NPR. Amidon “knows how to juice the drama out of a folk song”. The title song begins simply with Amdion‘s naked voice, but then builds to a “bloody climax” swelling with “jangling drones and a roar of electric guitar”. The songs were recorded over four days in Iceland and “every little unexpected twist shimmers with casual originality”. Despite the dark subject matter, the songs feel “deeply reassuring” opening up “a window on the American past” and letting us “feel it like nothing else around”. Read it in full here.

Amidon’s Lily-O made a big leap, jumping 84 spots to #116. Continue sharing this innovative album with DJs and radio staff, and help it hit the top 100!