Music

Big Ears 2019: Some Overlooked Festival Gems

Overlooked is a bit of a loaded word when it comes to the Big Ears Festival. The festival features so much music unlike anything you’ve ever seen, that it’s truly impossible to see it all. For an introvert like myself, FOMO became a relatively new and profoundly constant state-of-mind throughout the weekend. Some of the most talked about performances of the weekend — such as Spiritualized, Mountain Man, the Messthetics, and Dejohnette Coltrane Garrison, only the last of whom I saw — simply conflicted with other performances on my schedule. So having missed some of the most impressive and mind-bending performances, how can I even refer to other acts as overlooked? Big Ears just offers so much.

Big Ears 2019: Making Everything Seem Possible

By Alan Sherrod With minds mostly boggled and ears now feeling oversized, 2019 Big…

Plan or Improvisation? – Life Lessons From Big Ears 2019

By Eric Dawson Many musicians have talked about how an improvisational approach to music…

Strolling Through Big Ears – Part 2

Well the weather cleared up for Friday and Saturday, sunshine and warmer weather prevailed, and you couldn’t have asked for nicer days to be strolling around downtown. Hope the visiting Hawaiians felt more at home.

The Pilot Light and Big Ears

Let’s talk about the Pilot Light. The Old City club, which will hit its 20th(!) anniversary next year, has hosted a mind-boggling number of acts in its time, many if not most that are right at home in the Big Ears universe, with many festival alumni having performed there before they were later booked for the big show. It’s a natural venue for the festival, along with Big Ears stalwarts the Tennessee Theatre, Bijou and KMA, a venue for the original festival in 2009.

Strolling Through Big Ears

Spring is here and with it comes one of the city’s most anticipated events of the year. No, I’m not talking about March Madness or the Knoxville Marathon, although this Knoxville-based music festival can feel both a little mad and like an endurance test. It’s time once again for Big Ears!