Bards of Prayer: Liturgical Reveling and Gift in the Music of Sam Amidon and Alasdair Roberts

This article examines cultural manifestations of the sacred in the work of the indie-folk artists Sam Amidon and Alasdair Roberts. It places Jean-Yves Lacoste and Jacques Derrida’s contrasting conceptions of religious experience into conversation with one another through a discussion of the ways in which the creative practices of Amidon and Roberts draw into question distinctions between religious and secular experience. By focusing on the role of the musician as bard, this article highlights the extent to which the folk artist occupies a liminal space on the borders between religion and secularity. Consequently, it argues that the creative practices of Amidon and Roberts may serve as a model for articulating a more productive relationship between religious and secular life in what may currently be regarded as a post-secular age.