Well-loved independent folkie Sam Amidon will release his next album with the estimable Nonesuch Records, Brooklyn Vegan reports. According to the label’s website, Bright Sunny South will be available May 14. The set was produced by Amidon with an assist from Thomas “Doveman” Bartlett (Iron & Wine, the National, Sharon Van Etten) and British engineer Jerry Boys (Buena Vista Social Club, R.E.M.). Jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler will appear, while Amidon plays banjo, fiddle, acoustic guitar, and piano.
The Vermont-via-London musician explained in a statement, “There was an atmospheric quality to my last two records; those albums are like a garden of sounds, but this one is more of a journey, a winding path. The band comes rushing in and then they disappear. It comes from more of a darker, internal space.”
Speaking of key players moving in and out of the picture, the first taste of the record is “My Old Friend,” a song about holding good memories close even if the person you made them with is no longer around. The music is beautifully bucolic, making good on the forthcoming album’s name by bathing Americana instrumentation in light, loose atmosphere. It’s all over so quickly that you might have to hit play twice.
