BRIGHT SUNNY SOUTH
Sam Amidon
(Warner)
The fourth album by the husband of Beth Orton and son of Peter and Mary Alice follows in the footsteps of his parents with Sam Amidon’s signing to iconic US label Nonesuch.
The reference points go deeper on this sweetly stark collection of folk song interpretations, which Amidon says were part of the soundtrack of his youth with particular reference to the gorgeous style of shape-note singing found on Weeping Mary, a track which his parents recorded in 1979.
Amidon has that rich storyteller’s kind of voice which works a treat on the pastoral I Wish I Wish, one of two tracks featuring ailing trumpeter and ECM alumni Kenny Wheeler, and the stroll-along My Old Friend.
The title track references a Civil-War era song on a lovely, lovely surprise of an album.
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