Sam Amidon stopped by the NPR offices in Washington, DC, earlier this fall, joined by Bill Frisell on guitar and Shahzad Ismaily on bass and percussion, to give a Tiny Desk Concert. They perform two songs from Amidon's latest album, Lily-O, on which Frisell and Ismaily perform, and which Tiny Desk Concert host Bob Boilen calls "gorgeous"—"Blue Mountains" and "Pat Do This, Pat Do That"—as well as the song "Short Life" from his 2013 Nonesuch Records debut album, Bright Sunny South.

"Sam Amidon takes traditional music and makes it his own," says Boilen. "He might begin with a traditional murder ballad and then morph it into something of his own, fueled by Bill Frisell's languidly atmospheric guitar, Shahzad Ismaily's minimal but essential percussion and Amidon's own yearning voice. At other times, Amidon weaves his own new tunes into worn, weary, seemingly ageless sagas."

You can watch the Tiny Desk Concert below.

Amidon will open for Wilco as the special guest on the second night of the band's sold-out, five-night residency at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago this Saturday. He stays on in Chicago for his own headline set at The Hideout Sunday night, followed by shows at The Ark in Ann Arbor on Monday and The Drake Hotel in Toronto next Wednesday. For details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.