12 November 2026 – Sam Amidon Announces Willing Brother Knowing With Big Thief's James Krivchenia

Pioneering American singer, fiddler, and folk reinterpretive artist Sam Amidon has announced his ninth full-length studio album, Willing Brother Knowing, set for release on February 26, 2027 through renowned traditional and avant-folk label River Lea Records. The album was produced by Big Thief drummer and acclaimed experimental sonic architect James Krivchenia, arriving alongside gorgeous lead single Innisfree.

The project builds upon Amidon's fertile catalogue, including 2025's acclaimed Salt River and his genre-defying orchestral collaboration Willows with Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. Throughout his career, Amidon has treated folk tradition not as a museum exhibit to be preserved under glass, but as a living, malleable folklore meant to be re-interrogated through modern harmonic language, free improvisation, and subtle electronic distortion.

Willing Brother Knowing draws deeply from transatlantic musical lineages spanning rural Appalachia, Irish traditional airs, and American shape-note hymns. Across twelve tracks, Amidon weaves acoustic fiddle, open-tuned banjo, uilleann pipes, and grand piano with Krivchenia's uninhibited, texture-rich percussion and modular synthesizer beds. The tracklist includes Daniel in the Lion's Den, Hangman, The Snow It Melts, Dying Californian, Blackjack Groove, and Banjo Rock.

Lead single Innisfree draws evocative imagery from W.B. Yeats' classic 1888 poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree, accompanied by a beautifully shot cinematic music video directed by Irish filmmaker Allyn Quigley. Krivchenia's sympathetic production builds a bridges between the vanguard of modern indie rock and the elemental roots of acoustic storytelling.

For listeners invested in contemporary acoustic music and folk reinvention, the record represents a benchmark collaboration. Apparently folk music has survived centuries of technological disruption because somebody always remembers that a compelling melody and an interesting story are difficult to improve upon, even with an expensive synthesizer. Delve into more roots recordings in our folk section.