Touring in support of his recent CD Bright Sunny South, Vermont-born folksinger Sam Amidon performs in the Olin Arts Alive music series on Tuesday, Sept. 10, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The Maine country songwriter Wesley Allen Hartley and his band Traveling Trees open for Amidon at 7:30 p.m.

Admission is $12, available at . For more information, please contact 207-786-6163.

Folksinger Sam Amidon. Photo credit: Terry Magson.

Bright Sunny South, Amidon’s fourth CD and Nonesuch debut, is “a lonesome record,” says the singer and multi-instrumentalist. The folk songs, shape-note hymns and country ballads that he performs deal with the darkest, most fundamental issues. Yet there is beauty and comfort in these time-tested words and melodies and in Amidon’s simple, emotionally direct delivery.

These songs constitute a patchwork portrait of Amidon himself, each representing a facet of his history, travels and discoveries. Witness his version of “Weeping Mary,” a shape-note hymn his parents, Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, recorded with the Vermont-based Word of Mouth Chorus for Nonesuch Records in 1977.

Amidon is known for reworking traditional melodies into striking new forms. He delivers these songs in a plainspoken voice that encompasses sadness and stoicism, vulnerability and wisdom. As a writer for Pitchfork said, “his interpretations are so singular that it stops mattering how (or if) they existed before.”

Amidon started out on fiddle and picked up guitar during a sojourn in New York City. If his foundation is in folk music, he brings influences ranging from free jazz to avant-garde to Irish to Bartok. He also incorporates storytelling and movement, particularly a kind of intense “liturgical” dancing, into his shows, and has appeared at experimental venues like Chelsea’s The Kitchen as well as on more conventional folk stages.

Wesley Allen Hartley (second from left) & The Traveling Trees.

Wesley Allen Hartley & The Traveling Trees are a country band based in Portland, Maine. Their debut album, Narrow Gauge Quad Trains (Burst & Bloom Records) was named one of the top 10 local albums of 2010 by the Portland Phoenix.

In June 2010, the band recorded its second album, Don’t Peel Your Bloomers Off Just Yet, currently self-released.

The Traveling Trees have played numerous shows and festivals from Maine to Texas.

A singer and fiddler familiar to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and mid-Maine audiences, Schneckenburger is presented by the college’s Freewill Folk Society. Tickets cost $8 general admission and $5 for seniors, students and ages 12 and under. For reservations or artist information, call 207-268-4013; for directions or other venue information, call 207-786-6135.

Called an “exhilarating young traditional performer” by the folk-music magazine Dirty Linen, Schneckenburger has performed in Russia, Western Europe, Canada and across the United States. She has opened for artists such as master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser and renowned singer Judy Collins. Her recordings include two solo titles, the widely reviewed Different Game (Footprint, 2001) and The Mad Hatter (Outer Green, 1997), as well as recent CDs with the bands Halali, Phantom Power and Spin.

A product of rural Litchfield, Maine, Schneckenburger picked up the fiddle at age 6 and was quickly recognized as a prodigy. Her teachers included Greg Boardman, a member of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ music faculty and a pillar of Maine’s folk music community who brought his young protégé into the state’s thriving contradance scene.

She went on to become a champion fiddler, taking top awards at the Common Ground Country Fair, Maine Festival and East Benton contests, and she later studied with such top bowmen as Fraser, Jay Ungar and jazz artist Matt Glazer.

“It’s been exciting to observe her progress as a performer over the years,” says Boardman, “as her facility, experience and ardor continue to expand.”

Now a Boston resident and a 2001 graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Schneckenburger teaches and performs solo, with the acoustic fiddle band Halali and with the contradance groups Phantom Power and Spin.

“The bulk of the music I play could be described as a New England fiddle style,” says Schneckenburger. “But I’ve been influenced by plenty of other traditional music along the way — French Canadian, Scottish, Irish, Cape Breton, old-time and klezmer. I’ve used those influences to create a style that is all my own.”

Schneckenburger, who typically divides her sets about evenly between fiddle tunes and vocal music, will be accompanied at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ by guitarist Ted Davis and bassist Corey DiMario. Boardman, of Auburn, is expected to join his former student on the Olin stage, and members of Wake the Neighbors — a ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½-based contradance band that Schneckenburger co-founded — may also perform.

“I’m very excited to come back to ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½. I had my first recital with Greg there,” says Schneckenburger, also a veteran of ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½’ orchestra and Noonday Concert Series.

“It sounds silly, but the hall feels like an old friend,” she says. “Add to that the fact that many of my old friends will be in the audience, and I can barely wait for this concert to happen.”

The New England folk music trio Hope Hoffman and Kittlish open the 2008 ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ College Midsummer Lakeside Concert Series with a performance at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 10, in the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater at the college’s Lake Andrews.

The 2008 series also presents the world music duo Okbari, who continue the revelatory work of oud master and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumnus Alan Gardner; family entertainers Mary Kaye and Professor Von Wienerschnitzel; the eclectic American folk duo Slattery and Stewart; and the popular Blue Hill Brass Quintet.

The Lakeside concerts start at 6 p.m. on five consecutive Thursdays in July and August. Sponsored by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ and the Bingham Betterment Fund, the concerts are open to the public at no cost. Bring a picnic supper and blankets or lawn chairs.

The rain site is the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St., adjacent to the amphitheater. For more information, please call 207-786-6400.

Here’s the complete schedule:

July 10, Hope Hoffman and Kittlish: A composer, fiddler, violist and storyteller, performs with Larry Burkett and Hugh McGinness. “Her performances are inviting, warm, energized and straight ahead, with a bit of mischief thrown in,” says Greg Boardman, who teaches folk fiddle at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

The threesome offers Hoffman’s original fiddle and viola tunes augmented with stories about the rural adventures that inspire them, as well as a lively repertoire of traditional Celtic, French Canadian, English and Scandinavian music.

A lifelong writer, actress and dancer, Hoffman has been a self-employed musician and teacher in Maine since 2001. McGinness performs on cittern, guitar, banjo and other instruments. A musician for nearly 50 years, he is also one-third of the Irish trio Feckless. Burkett accompanies a variety of traditional fiddle players on guitar, including Lucien Mathieu and the bands Fiddle-iscious and the Don Roy Trio.

July 17, Okbari: perform Armenian and Anatolian folk music, classical Middle Eastern music, and songs old and new from Greek, Arabic and Balkan traditions. Their own compositions are inspired by the music of the Middle East and India. Their instruments come from around the world including the oud, clarinet, duduk, bouzouki, doumbek, tabla and mridangam. Formed in 1995, Okbari performs throughout the Northeast.

Libby and LaPerna were associated with the late composer and master of the oud, ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ alumnus Alan Shavarsh Bardezbanian, aka Al Gardner. Libby began his musical training in Brooklyn, N.Y., studying the Indian drums called tabla with the late Ustad Mulazim Hussain. He was later introduced to the oud by Bardezbanian, and studied Middle Eastern musical modes and the Armenian and Turkish folk traditions with him until his death in 2006.

LaPerna has been a percussionist since 1987. In 2000 he joined Bardezbanian’s Middle Eastern Ensemble, and with Bardezbanian learned Turkish, Armenian and Greek rhythms. LaPerna is also a member of the ensemble Alhan, and has performed all over the U.S. including at such legendary venues as the Knitting Factory and Fez, both in New York, and the Arabesque Music Series at Club Passim in Cambridge, Mass.

Okbari has released four albums, most recently 2007’s Armenian and Anatolian Folk Music. Okbari also appears as a traditional Armenian and Turkish dance quartet featuring former Bardezbanian ensemble violinist Michael Gallant and noted guitarist Michah Blue Smaldone.

July 24, Mary Kaye and Professor Von Wienerschnitzel: A Maine-based singer-songwriter, has combined extensive experience in music, theater and education to win critical acclaim as a performer for children.  Her work has won national awards including the Listen-Up Award from Publishers Weekly, and has been reviewed in publications including Parenting Magazine, Booklist and the Midwest Book Review.

Kaye “offers a respite from standard kids’ music with lovely, warbly vocals that recall Natalie Merchant,” Parenting Magazine wrote in 2006. “Her songs, at once silly and melodious, provide an insider look at kid culture.”

Kaye’s ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ show will feature juggling, magic and other antics by comic cohort Professor Von Wienerschnitzel, played by David Kaye. He teaches acting, directing and playwriting at the University of New Hampshire. His play “Can’t Get There” was aired on PBS and his experimental comedy “And God Said . . .” was a Top 10 pick at the Montreal Fringe Festival. The couple has performed extensively for young audiences.

July 31, Slattery and Stewart: Fiddler , a singer and multi-instrumentalist, represent roots traditions including the exuberant soulful two-steps and waltzes of Cajun Louisiana, the upbeat fiddle tunes of French Canada and New England, and the occasional mountain ballad. They have performed all over the eastern United States, as well as Canada and Mexico.

Recognized by Louisiana’s Cajun French Music Association for the authenticity of their style and repertoire, these two versatile musicians also play with the Cajun band the Offshore Aces and with the contradance band Northern Spy, included in the Smithsonian Folkways CD on New Hampshire social dancing titled Choose Your Partner!

Aug. 7, Blue Hill Brass Quintet: The has been delighting audiences for more than 20 years. The group has performed throughout New England at such events as the Eastern States Exposition, the Maine Festival, harvest fairs all over Maine and on Maine Public Radio.

The players are trumpeters Curt Brossmer and Allen Graffam, hornist Scott Burditt, trombonist Steve Norris and tubist Paul Greenstone. With Brossmer and Burditt serving as principals on their instruments with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, the quintet’s collective resume also features work with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, the Al Corey Orchestra and the Maine Chamber Ensemble.

With a repertoire covering five centuries, the quintet is known both for musical excellence and family-pleasing entertainment.

– Office of Communications and Media Relations

The event is open to the public. A donation at the door is requested. For more information, please call 207-786-6135.

An Auburn resident, Boardman has performed in folk venues all over Maine during his 30-year career. His new recording, Divine Waltz, is a collection of tunes he has written over the past several years, performed more or less in a traditional Down East style — “acoustically delivered with a chamber-rock edge,” says Boardman.

Joining him at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ will be several musicians featured on the disc, including Chris Prickitt, banjo; Beth Borgerhoff, accordion and piano; Peter Sturtevant, guitar; Jeff Taylor, bass; and Mike Hansen, percussion. Boardman’s sons Isaac, Ethan and Aidan will also perform, as will fiddler Ellen Gawler. From ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, where Boardman is a member of the applied music faculty, participating musicians include seniors Jessie Gagne-Hall, fiddle; Mike Roberts, bass and dobro; and the folk choir Northfield.

Boardman has performed with the Northern Valley Boys, Old Grey Goose, the Ben Guillemette Ensemble and Timbrel. He practices a fiddle style inspired by such musicians as Don Messer, Simon St. Pierre, Otto Soper and Fairport Convention’s Dave Swarbrick, the English folk-rocker who first moved Boardman to swap his electric guitar for a fiddle.

Boardman’s solo recordings include Century Reel, In Came a Fiddler and Chantons, a Franco-American song collaboration with Michael Parent.

As a promoter of traditional fiddle music Boardman founded or co-founded a number of popular fiddling events, including (with the late Shirley Littlefield), Maine’s longest-running fiddle contest, the East Benton Fiddlers’ Convention.

He has also long been involved in the state’s burgeoning country-dance scene. Boardman teaches strings for the Lewiston School Department as well as for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½.

After inviting Glockler and Smith to join the group in 1992, the foursome etched out a sound that was part rock, part folk, part blues and part blue grass, creating a loyal following with their two self-released CDs, Strangefolk (1994) and Lore (1995). Their latest offering and debut on the Mammoth label, Weightless in the Water (1999), sold 20,000 copies independently prior to its August release.

One of his country’s most prominent folksingers, the Glasgow native has traveled extensively throughout his native Scotland, continental Europe and North America for more than 30 years. Risks and Roses and Gentle Persuasion are among the 13 albums he has recorded.

Although MacKintosh first learned to play music on the Highland bagpipes, his instrument of choice and on-tour companion for more than three decades is the five-string long-neck banjo. He also plays the concertina and harmonica.

“His music delivers a poignant message in a laid-back manner,” according to the Fayetteville Observer-Times. Says MacKintosh, “I got that ‘quiet man’ image because I don’t push too hard. I find it’s more effective if I don’t beat them over the head with social commentary. I make a quiet point and hope they listen to it tonight and think about it tomorrow.”

Over the course of three years, Williams has carved out an impressive niche for herself in the contemporary music scene. According to The New York Times, “she has the craft and heart to make the folky basics ring true again. Her songs reach beyond modest ambitions; they glow with compassion and intelligence.”

From coffee houses to concert halls, her success includes sales of more than 150,000 copies of her two critically  acclaimed albums, The Honesty Room and Mortal City. Her latest recording, End of the Summer, features a contemporary cycle of songs with complex rhythms and dazzling wordplay.