A contemporary folk musician specializing in guitar, fiddle, and banjo, Sam Amidon is known for both his original songs and his often-ambitious updates of traditional folk tunes. While he sometimes combines the two on his albums, two of his most celebrated releases, 2007's All Is Well and 2010's I See the Sign, are almost entirely comprised of folk standards (save one song by R. Kelly on the latter). At another extreme, Amidon's first album of all-original material, 2017's The Following Mountain, found him working with veteran jazz musicians to create a darker and more experimental vision. Regardless of song sources, his reliably textured, atmospheric arrangements include a singing voice that's gentle but evocative.