The son of actors in a theater troupe, author, composer, musician and performer Sam Amidon was born in Brattleboro, Vermont, on June 3, 1981. Samuel Tear Amidon began singing with his family and playing the fiddle as a child, before performing in the band Popcorn Behavior with his brother Stefan and a friend, Thomas Bartlett. Inspired by traditional Irish music, he broadened his musical horizons to include indie rock, jazz and early American folk, through the compilations initiated by Harry Smith and Alan Lomax. Settling in New York in the late 1990s, he collaborated with the bands Doveman and Stars Like Fleas, and launched his career in 2001 with the instrumental album Solo Fiddle, followed by a dozen others including All Is Well (2008), I See the Sign (2010), Lily-O (2014), The Following Mountain (2017), Sam Amidon (2020) and Salt River (2025). He collaborates with several artists, including Bill Frisell, Glen Hansard, Tune-Yards, Jacob Collier, The Blind Boys of Alabama and the Kronos Quartet, on the album Folk Songs (2017). Married to English singer Beth Orton, the couple lived in Los Angeles before settling in London. In 2026, he released the album Willows, an orchestral reinterpretation of traditional folk songs arranged by Nico Muhly, with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra conducted by Pekka Kuusisto.
