The 2016 Big Ears Festival gets under way in Knoxville, Tennessee, today, and featured among the performers are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass, Olivia Chaney, Sam Amidon, Nico Muhly, and Bombino. Big Ears will be held at venues throughout downtown Knoxville through Saturday.

Sam Amidon performed four songs for Seattle public radio station KEXP at last year's Pickathon festival in Oregon. In addition to the previously released "Down the Line," you can watch the complete four-song set with that song and "Your Lone Journey," both from his latest album, Lily-O, as well as two earlier songs here. Amidon performs at a live eTown taping with Bill Frisell in Boulder on Tuesday and joins Regina Carter at Royce Hall in LA on Friday. He continues to tour the country in the coming months with Glenn Kotche, Punch Brothers, and more.

Sam Amidon has been performing songs from his latest album, Lily-O, on the road, making stops across the US and Europe. One such stop was at the Pickathon festival in Happy Valley, Oregon, last summer, where he performed "Down the Line," from Lily-O, for Seattle public radio station KEXP's Pickathon Logging Road Series. You can watch the just-released performance here.

The line-up for the 2016 MusicNOW Festival in Cincinnati has been announced, and among the performers are Kronos Quartet, Punch Brothers, Chris Thile, and Sam Amidon. The three-day festival, founded by artistic director Bryce Dessner, will take place March 18–20. Kronos Quartet will join the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for performances at Cincinnati's Music Hall the first two nights of the festival, performing works by Julia Wolfe and Terry Riley. Chris Thile closes out Friday night's program with a solo set and joins his fellow Punch Brothers to close out the weekend at the Cincinnati Masonic Center Auditorium on Sunday with Sam Amidon.

Sam Amidon was the guest on WBEZ's Morning Shift in Chicago this morning. He discussed and performed songs from his album Lily-O, and more. "When it comes to his interpretations of classic American music," says host Tony Sarabia, "Amidon has walked that tightrope between admiration and exploration—and he hasn’t fallen off yet." Hear the set here. Amidon kicked off a four-night run of shows with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline in Des Moines last night. The tour continues at SPACE in Evanston tonight, followed by shows in Milwaukee and Minneapolis this weekend. In December, Amidon will supporting the band San Fermin on several shows in North America.

Sam Amidon, who is touring Ireland this week, has just announced several new tour dates in North America supporting the band San Fermin in December. The dates begin at World Café Live at the Queen in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 2 and include stops along the Eastern US and Canada and into the Midwest, culminating at Bowery Ballroom in NYC on December 17. Amidon will play a number of previously announced shows in the Midwest with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline in November.

Wilco has released a full-length documentary film entitled Every Other Summer, about the band's music and arts festival, Solid Sound. Directed by Christoph Green and Brendan Canty of Trixie Films and shot in 2013, it documents the three-day event, which takes place at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. The film features appearances and performances from a number of festival artists including Sam Amidon, who returns to Solid Sound next weekend with Bill Frisell. The two give a free set in Brooklyn's Prospect Park tonight for Celebrate Brooklyn!. 

Sam Amidon made his Mountain Stage debut on NPR last week, now available online at npr.org. Amidon performed two songs from his latest album, Lily-O—"Walkin' Boss" and "Blue Mountains"—and two from his 2013 Nonesuch debut album, Bright Sunny South—"Short Life" and "As I Roved Out." "A gifted multi-instrumentalist, Amidon made a name for himself in his teens as a fiddler," says NPR. "In the years since then, he has stretched comfortably from old-time music into styles ranging from free jazz to alt-folk." Amidon resumes his North American tour in Boston on June 14.

The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA has announced its 2015–16 season, and featured among the artists performing this season are several artists familiar to readers of the Nonesuch Journal: Randy Newman, Sam Amidon, Richard Goode, and Rokia Traoré. The season also includes works by Steve Reich, as part of a celebration of choreographer Anna Teresa De Keersmaeker, and the West Coast premiere of a new work by Timo Andres.

Celebrate Brooklyn!—one of New York City's longest running, free, outdoor performing arts festivals—has announced the complete line-up for this summer's concert series in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. Among the featured performers this year are Nonesuch artists Punch Brothers, Rhiannon Giddens, and Sam Amidon with Bill Frisell. You can see the complete line-up in the highly-recommended announcement video posted here.

Sam Amidon has released a new video for the song "Blue Mountains," off his latest album, Lily-O. The song is an Appalachian ballad that tells an enigmatic tale of a young woman who falls in love with a married man. The video, which was created by filmmaker and fine-art/fashion photographer Andrea Sisson, premiered earlier today via Paste, which calls Lily-O "excellent." The video was shot in Ojai, CA, and features Amidon and model/actress Alex Noiret. Watch it here. Amidon is currently touring with Sharon Van Etten in Europe and the UK then headlines his own European shows.

Sam Amidon, whose latest album, Lily-O, was released in September, kicks off a tour of Europe with a performance in Ghent, Belgium, tonight, followed by a two-week tour of the Benelux countries, Ireland, and the UK with Sharon Van Etten, and a ten-day solo tour culminating in a performance at Islington Assembly Hall in London on May 10. Amidon then heads to the US for performances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music celebrating the music of Arthur Russell and several summer festivals, including Wilco's Solid Sound, Justin Vernon's Eaux Claires, and Pickathon.