* * more on Frisell & Amidon * *

BILL FRISELL

Over the years, Frisell has contributed to the work of such collaborators ad Paul Motian, John Zorn, Elvis Costello, Ginger Baker, The Los Angeles Phiharmonic, Suzanne Vega, Loudon Wainwright III, Van Dyke Parks, Vic Chesnutt, Rickie Lee Jones, Ron Sexsmith, Vinicius Cantuaria, Marc Johnson (in 'Bass Desires'), Ronald Shannon, Jackson and Melvin Gibbs (in 'Power Tools'), Marianne Faithful, John Scofield, Jan Garbarek, Lyle Mays, Vernon Reid, Julius Hmphill, Paul Bley, Wayne Horvitz, Hal Willner, Robin Holcomb, Rinde Eckert, The Frankfurt Ballet, film director Gus Van Sant, David Sanborn, David Sylvian, Petra Haden and numerous others including Bono, Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and Daniel Lanois on the soundtrack for Wim Wnders' film Million Dollar Hotel.

This work has established Frisell as one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music. The breadth of such performing and recording situations is a testament not only to his singular guitar conception, but his musical versatility as well. This, however, is old news by now. In recent years, it is Frisell's role as a composer and band leader which has garnered him increasing notoriety.

SAM AMIDON

Sam Amidon was born and raised in Brattleboro, Vermont by folk musicians Peter and Mary Alice Amidon. He has released three albums of radically re-worked folksons: 'But This Chicken Proved Falsehearted,' recorded at his then-home of Harlem in 2006 with Thomas Bartlett; followed by 'All Is Well' in 2008 and 'I See the Sign' in 2010, both recorded in Iceland with producer Valgeir Sigurosson.

Sam sings, plays banjo and guitar and fiddle, draws comics and makes little video-stories, and can type at 120 words per minute. He's typing this bio right now, virtually at the speed of thought. Later, somebody will edit it.

Sam started on fiddle at the age of three and by eleven had formed a band called Popcorn Behavior with childhood friend Thomas Bartlett and younger brother Stefan, to play New England fiddle tunes. They toured internationally, gathering attention from NPR, CNN and the Boston Globe, and relasing five albums by the time they graduated from pretend high school which they did not really go to (at the time it was called 'homeschooling'). His first solo album, released in 2001, was a collection of traditional Irish fiddle tunes, simply titled 'Solo Fiddle.'

By 17 Sam had taken up the banjo and fallen in love with free jazz, Miles Davis, early indie rock, drone minimalism, mountain ballads and Buster Keaton films. But is wasn't until he moved to New York City in 2002 that he began to play and experience first-hand all of these other kinds of things. Since then he has collaborated with a myriad of artists including Nico Muhly, Thomas Bartlett, Beth Orton, Shahzad Ismaily, Glen Hansard and Bill Frisell.

Sam's folksong albums have received wide acclaim and have pulled many a soul back from the brink...his itinerant wanderings have taken him to far-off lands...and his solo performances have taken on a life and tenor of their own. Sam's drawn comics and enigmatic home-made videos, the 'self-inflicted field recordings' resulting from these internal and external journeys, have resulted in exhibitions and teh Tony Shafrazi and Audio Visual Arts galleries in New York City, and the Gallery Kuhturm in Leipzig. his audio-visual show/comics lecture 'Home Alone Inside My Head' was premiered at NYC's The Kitchen in November 2010.

Sam, currently London-based, is finishing work on a new album. After reading a bunch of Henry James, Sam is now hard at work writing his own 'pretend novel,' called King Speechy, to be released by Penguin Classics in 2051 u feel me.