Sam Amidon's 7" vinyl record Fatal Flower Garden EP (A Tribute to Harry Smith) is out now on Nonesuch. On the EP, Amidon performs four songs from Anthology of American Folk Music, Smith’s beloved and influential 1920s and ’30s folk music recordings. Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily play all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed. Amidon concludes a UK tour in the week ahead, then tours the US Northeast.
Amidon first publicly performed the songs on this EP—all of which were on Smith’s beloved and influential Anthology of American Folk Music—for a concert commissioned by Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Belgium, as part of its large-scale Anthology tribute. Fatal Flower Garden was recorded over two days in East London with Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily playing all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed.
Amidon concludes a UK tour with shows in Basingstoke, Bristol, and Frome, in the week ahead, then comes to the United States to tour the Northeast. For details and tickets, see below and visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
Amidon says: “Fatal Flower Garden is my tribute to the elusive spirit of Harry Smith and to his wondrous Anthology of American Folk Music. Harry Smith believed in the secret connections and mysteries that existed in culture ... whether it was the feeling of Thelonious Monk’s rhythmic phrasing; the patterns in string games and Ukrainian egg painting designs; the wild fiddle tunes; or the epic folk ballads. He understood American Folk Music to be a wildly heterogeneous category that included multiple cultural, racial, and linguistic elements.”
He continues, “I love listening through the Anthology for its window in to 1920s musical practices in all their varied glory, but also for the silent consciousness of Harry Smith behind the whole thing. You can picture him listening to the recordings, expounding his theories about the connections between them, and digging all of it.”
Fatal Flower Garden is Amidon’s fourth recording on Nonesuch and follows 2017’s The Following Mountain. He also was one of four singer/songwriter’s featured on Kronos Quartet’s 2017 Folk Songs for the label.
Amidon first publicly performed the songs on this EP—all of which were on Smith’s beloved and influential Anthology of American Folk Music—for a concert commissioned by Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Belgium, as part of its large-scale Anthology tribute. Fatal Flower Garden was recorded over two days in East London with Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily playing all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed.
Amidon concludes a UK tour with shows in Basingstoke, Bristol, and Frome, in the week ahead, then comes to the United States to tour the Northeast. For details and tickets, see below and visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
Amidon says: “Fatal Flower Garden is my tribute to the elusive spirit of Harry Smith and to his wondrous Anthology of American Folk Music. Harry Smith believed in the secret connections and mysteries that existed in culture ... whether it was the feeling of Thelonious Monk’s rhythmic phrasing; the patterns in string games and Ukrainian egg painting designs; the wild fiddle tunes; or the epic folk ballads. He understood American Folk Music to be a wildly heterogeneous category that included multiple cultural, racial, and linguistic elements.”
He continues, “I love listening through the Anthology for its window in to 1920s musical practices in all their varied glory, but also for the silent consciousness of Harry Smith behind the whole thing. You can picture him listening to the recordings, expounding his theories about the connections between them, and digging all of it.”
Fatal Flower Garden is Amidon’s fourth recording on Nonesuch and follows 2017’s The Following Mountain. He also was one of four singer/songwriter’s featured on Kronos Quartet’s 2017 Folk Songs for the label.
Amidon first publicly performed the songs on this EP—all of which were on Smith’s beloved and influential Anthology of American Folk Music—for a concert commissioned by Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, Belgium, as part of its large-scale Anthology tribute. Fatal Flower Garden was recorded over two days in East London with Amidon and frequent collaborator Shahzad Ismaily playing all the instruments; Leo Abrahams engineered, produced, and mixed.
Amidon concludes a UK tour with shows in Basingstoke, Bristol, and Frome, in the week ahead, then comes to the United States to tour the Northeast. For details and tickets, see below and visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
Amidon says: “Fatal Flower Garden is my tribute to the elusive spirit of Harry Smith and to his wondrous Anthology of American Folk Music. Harry Smith believed in the secret connections and mysteries that existed in culture ... whether it was the feeling of Thelonious Monk’s rhythmic phrasing; the patterns in string games and Ukrainian egg painting designs; the wild fiddle tunes; or the epic folk ballads. He understood American Folk Music to be a wildly heterogeneous category that included multiple cultural, racial, and linguistic elements.”
He continues, “I love listening through the Anthology for its window in to 1920s musical practices in all their varied glory, but also for the silent consciousness of Harry Smith behind the whole thing. You can picture him listening to the recordings, expounding his theories about the connections between them, and digging all of it.”
Fatal Flower Garden is Amidon’s fourth recording on Nonesuch and follows 2017’s The Following Mountain. He also was one of four singer/songwriter’s featured on Kronos Quartet’s 2017 Folk Songs for the label.
Composer Donnacha Dennehy has released an excerpt from his Violin Concerto's second movement, performed by National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, conductor Ryan McAdams, and violinist Stephen Waarts, from the upcoming album Limina. You can hear the five-minute excerpt of the second movement, “Tranquil and spacious,” and watch the video, made by Laura Sheeran during the album's recording at National Concert Hall, Dublin. The new album, due August 28, also includes the orchestra and McAdams performing Dennehy’s piano concerto Limina with pianist Eliza McCarthy.
The collective trio of saxophonist and flutist Henry Threadgill, pianist Vijay Iyer, and drummer Dafnis Prieto have shared "Gently Trapped," a Prieto-penned tune from their upcoming album Fifteen, due August 21. You can watch the video, made during the recording session, here. Fifteen is the Nonesuch debut for all three musicians.
