THROUGH THE LENS: Big Ears Festival 2025 Digs Deep

Founded in 2009, the Big Ears Festival lays claim to bringing more diverse music acts to single locale than any other event or gathering. From roots to the avant-garde, the fest brings together performers from around the world to music and other arts aficionados who are also from around the world, all to the heart of Appalachia in Knoxville, Tennessee. The irony is not lost on anyone who has ever participated in Big Ears.

I use the word “participate” because its audiences are as much participants in the festival as are the artists. It is a symbiotic relationship that has no equal. It is also a prime example of how the arts have an economic impact on a community second to none. With a budget of $3.5 million, the festival has an annual impact of $68.9 million on the local economy. Big Ears is not alone, funding for the arts has a far greater return than any other endeavor. Next time someone attempts to justify using tax payer dollars to pay for a sports stadium or arena just pull that out of your hat.

While I am usually there, this year (March 27-30, 2025) a virus laid me low. But, as with the past few years, Knoxville-resident Kelly Shipe was there to report on the goings on.

Digging Deep at Big Ears 2025, by Kelly Shipe 

Every year, Big Ears presents a compelling challenge to the very foundations of my belief system, inviting a profound exploration of thought. The immersive, four-day experience, a confluence of music and visual artistry, indelibly impacting my being with each successive iteration.

I share my story because the artistic amalgamation that Festival Director Ashley Capps has created and continues to foster is a transformative emotional and cognitive process that any human, especially those who love to have their minds completely blown, should have the privilege of experiencing.

My exploration into 2025 Big Ears began at the Bijou Theatre. The historical space was bathed in dark indigo light and became a vessel for Dawn Richard’s resonant, otherworldly voice. Her collaboration with Spencer Zahn wove a musical narrative of deep pain and resilient hope, captivating the audience with her vocal power and the storytelling inherent in her New Orleans heritage. The emotional resonance of the set culminated in a collective expression as we joined our voices on their tune “Traditions.”  Afterward, I witnessed Richard embrace a young audience member, a testament to the duo’s deeply moving performance.

That evening, ANOHNI and The Johnsons’ set was a searing, unforgettable emotional experience. Upon their entrance, the band in white, followed by ANOHNI, commanded reverence. Her voice, hauntingly beautiful, from the opening lines of the set’s first song, “Scapegoat” transformed the audience into a congregation:

You’re so killable, just so killable
It’s not personal
It’s just the way you were born.

ANOHNI’s artful mediation on how how some people are viewed as dispensable — thus granting a culture license to bully, subjugate, or otherwise commit violence against the “other” — moved many to tears. Unfortunately, while photography was not allowed during the show, part of me realized it would have broken the spell. I will keep that with me forever.

In contrast, the Knoxville Museum of Art hosted Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves on an early Saturday afternoon. The space was filled with Richard Jolley’s profoundly beautiful crystal installations was infused with the joy of de Groot’s intricate clawhammer banjo work. Intertwined with Hargreaves’s powerhouse fiddling, the hall ignited with pure energy and fun.  The duo’s “I Don’t Want to Get Married” was my favorite, and I dare say, there wasn’t an audience member in the house without a smile on their face.

Speaking of fiddlers, Darol Anger, a significant force in the reinvigoration of stringband music beginning in the 1970s, was a revelation. As was North Carolina’s Magic Tuber Stringband, featuring Courtney Werner, who challenged my idea of what an Appalachian string band could be. Their music wove between the lanes of traditional, ambient, and experimental without breaking stride, leaving me in a near trancelike state of reflection that buttoned my weekend perfectly. Anger’s influence was unmistakable.

Then there is the revelation of Manchester, England’s Maruja, a band that detonates punk, jazz, and jam band energy into a fierce, mesmerizing force. They were my 2025 Big Ears breakout — a saxophone player surfing the mosh pit! They give everything, demanding nothing. Additionally, Waxahatchee lulled me with her resonant lyrics and vocal styling that often hinted at a homage to Lucinda Williams.

The treats kept coming. I went to dinner at my favorite downtown haunt, Bistro at the Bijou, and found Grammy-nominated bassist Daniel Kimbo (Jerry Douglas Band and The Earls of Leicester) playing with pianist Margherita Fava. I delighted in the fusion of indie-rock royalty, Yo La Tengo, and the Afrofuturism force of Sun Ra Arkestra. 

My Big Ears journey came to a close I drove down Central Avenue toward home I was awash in a sense of astonished wonder. My world feels richer and more vibrant after each Big Ears experience, and for that, I am grateful.

Click on any photo to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow.