Live Music Collective | Josh Finnell & Ben Child
“Local ‘champions’ ensure that the weird and wonderful can happen in our town on a consistent basis. When community members lead the charge, the arts become a collective reflection of our town and the people who live here - not just a transactional event. It transforms a town from a place where people just live into a place where people imagine together.”
-Josh Finnell
Known formally as “The Live Music Collective” this month’s Featured Artist Series highlights the team that made the upcoming Jake Xerxes Fussell & Sam Amidon show happen. These folks don’t just attend events, they help shape culture.
For Ben Child, Jake Xerxes Fussell has been a longtime friend since their days in Oxford, Mississippi, where the two shared “a lot of the same obsessions, Bob Dylan in the 1980s being a big one.” After Jake played a standout performance at Flour & Salt in late 2022, bringing him back to Hamilton had been on Ben’s mind. When Jake’s manager reached out last fall about a spring run of dates with Sam Amidon, they jumped on the opportunity to pull something together.
For Josh Finnell, the inspiration runs through storytelling itself. Viewing the artists through the lens of his work as a librarian, he describes Jake and Sam as “masters of reimagining the archive.” More than simply performing folk music, Josh sees them as artists who “breathe new life into old stories,” making them a natural fit for a community that values thoughtful listening and shared cultural memory.
“I’ve always felt that our community has a deep, quiet appreciation for storytelling, and these two are some of the best in the world at it.”
In addition to Ben and Josh - colleague, astronomer, and music aficionado Jeff Bary got the ball rolling on logistics between the artists, the Palace and campus support. Well known for his work around campus, Jeff immediately saw the opportunity to bring the show back to the Village. Over the years, Jeff’s advocacy has taken many forms: hosting house concerts, booking musicians for Brown Commons events, sharing music on 90.1 WRCU, and learning guitar himself.
The Collective all point to the same reason they continue helping make these shows happen: access.
Josh recalls a particular winter when it really clicked that bringing exceptional artists to Hamilton was worth the effort. He found himself repeatedly traveling out of town - driving to Albany, Rochester, or New York City - every time he wanted to see a favorite touring artist. “I looked around at the beautiful spaces we have right here in our community and realized that I could channel that same energy and money into bringing artists here,” he remembers. After taking time to learn from people in the community who have been doing this work for decades, he realized there was no reason he couldn’t be the one to press “send” on that booking email himself.
Ben notes that this area has an appetite for this kind of music in particular, even if the infrastructure isn’t always here in the way it might be in larger cities. “It’s important that we make opportunities for these events,” he says, “We've had artists who sell out venues in major cities playing to small crowds here in Hamilton - it's an incredible thing!”
That local effort has a ripple effect. It gives local community access to performances they might otherwise miss in an intimate setting, and helps put Hamilton on the cultural map as a meaningful stop for world-class talent.
Josh speaks to the electric feeling of “neighbors, students, and strangers all falling silent at the same time to listen to a single acoustic guitar”. That shared listening experience is exactly what makes shows like this so special. For Josh, the hope is that people leave carrying some of that feeling with them. He wants audiences to walk out feeling “like the world is a little bit smaller and more connected than it was when they walked in.” And if they leave with a new favorite song from Jake or Sam - and a sense of pride in their town - then, in his words, “it was all worth it.”
It’s also why Ben hopes audiences leave next Tuesday’s performance with one simple feeling: “Let’s do it again.”
Jake Xerxes Fussell & Sam Amidon
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Arts at the Palace, 19 Utica St., Hamilton.
Both artists are widely recognized for their work as contemporary interpreters of traditional American folk music, blending balladry, blues, archival song traditions, and modern folk sensibilities. Based in Durham, North Carolina, Jake Xerxes Fussell has become known for his distinctive fingerstyle guitar playing and thoughtful reinterpretations of traditional songs, while Sam Amidon brings his own singular approach to folk music and storytelling.
Presented by the Live Music Collective with support from WRCU, Colgate’s Arts, Creativity, and Innovation program, the Department of English and Creative Writing, and Arts At The Palace, this show is another example of what can happen when local advocates decide to help make great art accessible right here in Hamilton.
If you or someone you know is interested in bringing a show to our community, please reach out to info@artsatthepalace.org.
You can find more on the artists at www.jakexerxesfussell.com and on instagram @jxfussell and @samamidon
