I mentioned Nico Muhly a couple days ago, the young Philip Glass protege who’s headlining Lakeshore Theater tonight (Andrew Patner’s interview with him is here). But equally interesting, at least to a folk mark like me, is collaborator/opener Sam Amidon, the scion of an northern Appalachian music family who’s doing interesting 21st-century things with his native music.
Below is a video for “Saro,” (his version of “Pretty Saro,” first recorded in the Asheville, NC, area, where I was born; you can hear Roger McGuinn’s version here) but there’s quite a bit more on his Web site; there are a couple mp3s from his debut, which proves him to be a fine traditional fiddler, but there’s also an entire free album of lo-fi improv and other tinkering, Home Alone Inside My Head. “Will Adams” and “Apple Tree Blossom” are awfully good.
In other folkish music news, the new Bowerbirds album is the best thing I’ve heard in a long, long time. You can sample it at their Web site.