Sam Amidon—whose Nonesuch Records debut album, Bright Sunny South, was released this spring to critical acclaim—kicks off a five-week tour of North America with a concert at Hugh's Room in Toronto tonight. He remains in Canada to perform at the Ottawa Folk Festival this weekend before heading to the States and his home state of Vermont for a show at Higher Ground in South Burlington. The tour continues through mid-October, making stops throughout the Northeast—including headline shows in Philadelphia and Washington, DC, two nights at Jazz at Lincoln Center with Bill Frisell, four shows supporting Josh Ritter—into the Midwest in Minneapolis and Chicago, and drawing to a close in Santa Monica on October 11. The London-based Amidon returns to the UK to tour there and Europe later that month. See below for the North American dates; for more, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.

Following the release of Bright Sunny South in May, the Wall Street Journal said, “At once archaically rootsy and savvily refined … the album includes airy adornment from trumpet and flute… [but] remains rooted in the voice of a 31-year-old who sounds decades, if not centuries, older.” Produced by Amidon with his childhood friend and longtime collaborator Thomas Bartlett (a.k.a. Doveman) and legendary English engineer Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club, Vashti Bunyan, R.E.M.) and recorded in London, the record features a band made up of Bartlett and multi-instrumentalists Shahzad Ismaily and Chris Vatalaro. Jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler also makes a cameo. On September 24, Bright Sunny South will be released on vinyl with a download of the album and a bonus 7” disc featuring two previously unreleased recordings; it is available to pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store.

Amidon is known for his reworking of traditional melodies into a new form. In addition to country ballads and shape-note hymns, Bright Sunny South features interpretations of traditional and contemporary songs, including Tim McGraw’s “My Old Friend” and Mariah Carey’s “Shake It Off.” The record also includes a version of “Weeping Mary,” a shape-note hymn that his parents, Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, recorded with the Vermont-based Word of Mouth Chorus for Nonesuch Records on the 1977 disc Rivers of Delight: American Folk Hymns From the Sacred Harp Tradition.

Bright Sunny South follows 2010’s critically acclaimed I See the Sign, which earned Amidon praise from SPIN for his “quirky alchemy…contrasting pretty sounds with violent lyrical undercurrents” and Pitchfork, which said, “[Amidon’s] interpretations are so singular that it stops mattering how (or if) they existed before.”

Prior to I See the Sign, which was released on the Iceland-based label Bedroom Community, Amidon released But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted (Plug Research, 2007) and All Is Well (Bedroom Community, 2008). In addition to his solo albums, Amidon has collaborated on performances pieces with musical polymath Nico Muhly, toured as part of Thomas Bartlett’s group Doveman and the Brooklyn band Stars Like Fleas, collaborated with Beth Orton, and embarked on a series of live shows with the Frisell.

SAM AMIDON ON TOUR IN NORTH AMERICA

* w/ Bill Frisell: Gershwin & Beyond
** w/ Josh Ritter