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AMERICAN WAKE marks the acting debut of a prodigiously talented young musician who has been attracting a following since the age of 13.
As with Billy Smith, Amidon’s own life gave shape to the character he portrays. Best known as one of the top young fiddle players in the country, he is a musician possessed of a virtuosity and breadth of interest that allow him to straddle the traditional and the cutting edge.
Amidon grew up in the thriving music world of Brattleboro, Vermont, surrounded by shape-note singing, contradancing, and fiddle tunes. His parents are themselves well-known musicians, and Amidon started to study the violin at the age of three. During summers, his family performed throughout the Northeast; by the age of seven, Amidon began appearing with his parents, along with his younger brother Stefan.
Amidon has recorded as a solo performer (notably, his acclaimed 2001 CD, “Solo Fiddle”), and with a variety of bands, pursuing a range of forms from experimental improvisation and drone minimalism to free jazz. He is a member of the “avant folk” band Assembly (formerly known as Popcorn Behavior), which Amidon co-founded at the age of 13, and with which he continues to play. Assembly composed and played for the score of AMERICAN WAKE, and the entire band appears on screen.
