Hey everyone, Ashley Gahn here. I'm an author, journalist,
educator and happy to be part of this panel.
I'm Nate Shannon and yeah, everything, Ashley said.
My name is Marcus J Moore. I'm an author of music,
journalist and professor at the University of Maryland, teaching
young kids how to write. I'm Ann Powers.
I'm a critic and correspondent for NPR Music, also an author.
And I love Big Ears. And I love my Big Ears clan.
We've all been regulars of Big Ears for a while.
One thing I love about Big Ears is just seeing your smiling
faces on the street of Knoxville, TN.
I'm looking forward to doing that again this year.
It's going to be cool. Where's our first meal?
That's my first question. Oh yeah?
Well, and you've always got good Intel on the food, too.
No, it's, it's a family reunion. It's Opotchke all the way for
sure. No, it's a total family reunion.
Can we feel try humble hog again?
Oh. Oh, yeah, I, I didn't do that.
I didn't do that last time we got it.
Yeah, I, it's on my list. I've also, I've also got some
Intel on a pretty, pretty serious biscuit joint.
So, you know, I'll be sharing. I'll be sharing that.
Where was that place? We had dinner with you, Marcus.
What's it called that That pan? Oh yeah, the BBQ spot or
something. Yeah, I think it was Pan Asian,
that with the patio. Oh yeah, right, Kaizen.
Kaizen where friends meet. That.
Patio. That patio's insane, though.
You walk in there and there's like, you know, Taishan Sori
having dinner over there and there's Ambrose and Kamusari
having dinner over there. It's so much fun.
Anyway, I digress. Yeah.
So, you know, thinking about our respective histories with the
festival, is it possible that I was the first among us to attend
a big years? What year did you attend first?
I my first year was 2018. Oh no, I went in 2015 I think.
Oh, OK. All right.
So you are the you are the, the senior of the the Big Ears
veterans. This is kind of a funny
conversation for me to be having 'cause I have a absolutely
failed sense of time and dates and things.
But it was the year, I believe. I believe it was the year that
Terry Riley was the featured artist.
And I remember this crazy in Sea at the end of the night where
like everyone at the end of the night, on the climactic day of
the festival, all of the musicians, it seemed like every
musician who was playing the festival got on stage at the
Tennessee Theatre and they performed in Sea.
And that to me, to find the spirit of big ears in those
early days, just the the controlled chaos, but also the
community, you know, that crossed genre lines completely.
Love that, love that I'm I'm going to trump you guys though
my connection. To to.
Big Ears, OK, goes all the way back to the, you know, sorry,
the the 1980s when Ashley Capps, who founded Big Ears, of course,
he had a club that was part of the idea of reviving was kind of
a really dilapidated part of Knoxville, which is down near
the, the, the train tracks and with a club called Ella Guru's
named after the Captain Beefheart tune, of course.
And he kept booking all these African groups that I was torn
managing in the late 80s and early 90s.
And that's when I first met Ashley.
And of course, being another Ashley, there's not not many of
us male Ashley's left. But you know, I just remembered,
you know, it felt like us meeting a kindred spirit as far
as someone who was very much inclined to the outer reaches of
what was, you know, roots music at the time, etcetera.
And we could always count on Knoxville as a gig when we they
did our our tour. So all these years later, Nate
pulls me aside at one event, you know, up here in New York and
says, you know, you really need to check out big years.
And that's what led to an assignment with Downbeat
magazine and the Visit last year.
So for me, it's kind of a reunion with with Ashley, with
Knoxville, but you know, to see what he's created all these
years later and how his, you know, his vision has just
continued to expand and connect to all the these musical out
layers, you know, in such a creative way.
It is incredible. And the BBQ.
Marcus, when did you, when did you drop in Marcus?
I'm trying to remember. I want to say I was a late
Comer, I want to say it was like 2021, but I I think my lasting
memory so far of Big ears is the amount of work that I did in
2021 like. You.
You were. It was madness.
It was. More everywhere.
It was almost kind of like low, right?
It's like I'm talking like 7 different people, you know?
It was a thing like, Oh yeah, I saw you over there.
I was just always the dude that had on the jumpsuit, you know?
So that was the thing, like people would be like, where'd
you get that food from? Like so it almost kind of became
like this, like the fashion plate, but also this dude that
was just talking to everybody and not getting any rest.
So I also think that was a year. My lasting memory as well is
like seeing Damon Lotz because I hadn't seen the Black Monument
ensemble live. And I remember I was there with
Gio of the Times, and I almost cried watching that show, you
know, because I've never seen anything like that.
So those are my two takeaways, but also just the amount of work
that I had to do that first year was crazy.
I don't think I'll be doing that much again.
That was. Yeah, you, you scaled back
health healthfully a little bit after that year because I
remember running into you a few times and you were like, you
know, I'm, I'm barely, I'm barely holding on.
Listen, seven different interviews.
That was crazy. But I saw, I saw a few of those
and like, you know, it has to be said that you, you brought it
every single time. So you know, you like you, you
saved up all the all the, the Primo energy for the the artist
engagement. Listen, I try to, I try to be a
prime time performer as best as I can.
Like all while I'm on stage, I'm like, I'm hanging on for dear
life here. But the fans, the crowd would
never know it. And you mentioned Gio Giovanni
Ruslanello, he was on the 1st panel I ever did at Big Ears,
which was a critics panel before any of y'all came.
And it was. It was him.
And Grayson Haver Kern was on it.
And John Schaefer. I was on that Ann OH.
Wait, I was on that name. Never mind you were there.
OK, sorry you were there. Never mind I.
Blocked you. But but you know, that that that
speaks to something that I wanted to bring up because
really unlike any other festival I've ever attended, Big Ears
centers critical discourse and dialogue to the point where it
it's almost the thing that I think of first.
Like, yeah, it's it's discovery. It's like just cramming all this
music in. But like my experience of this
festival, even from before the time that I first attended, has
always been tied to this idea of criticism.
And I think that's partly because people like you and were
were going and bearing witness. But I have a very specific case
study, which is, you know, when I was covering music for the New
York Times, everybody kind of had their fiefdoms, you know?
Yes, yes. I remember I back when I worked
there. John Perales used to go to
Bonnaroo every year and and from the very first year, Ben Ratliff
kind of laid claim to big ears. You know, he was like, he was
like, this is this is my joint here, you know, And so every
year I would read Ben's reviews from Knoxville and they always
had this like air of euphoria that you don't necessarily
associate with a Ben Ratliff live review.
You know, he was he was basically like quelling about
this event. And I was like, man was he?
Actually using exclamation points.
I don't know if he used exclamation points but but in in
one of his first reviews, it might have even been his first
one. He he said that it it was like
heaven. Wow.
You know, and so I was like, man, this is someone who is not
easily impressed and, and he's raving.
And so I knew, you know, as soon as I was able to make it work
that I, I had to make it out. And since then I haven't missed
1. You know it.
It gets its hooks into you well. I think what you're talking
about, I mean let's let's engage in a little critical discourse
like why does that happen in relation to the line up?
I'm curious what y'all think. What about the, you know, the
curation of this festival brings that euphoric feeling because I
think there are other aspects of the festival that that enhance
the euphoric feeling, including Knoxville, TN itself, which we
can talk about a little bit later.
But I'm curious, like maybe I'll just ask what's the, what was
the moment of euphoria for you? The first moment maybe that you
felt mine was that NC performance.
So what about y'all you talked about Damon Locks Marcus.
Maybe that was your first moment of euphoria.
Yeah, it was, it was, it was that, but it was also, you know,
you're in a place where, you know, we all pretty much have
similar taste in music. And you know how sometimes it
can be challenging to put people on to the stuff that you're into
because they're, you know, it's a takes a very specific year to
like the stuff that we like. So I think for me that moment of
euphoria was was just realizing that this is pretty much my, you
know, my whatever, my Apple Music, just in real life, you
know, this is all the stuff that I cover.
Like right there, there's Damon locks right there.
I can cut the corner and I'm seeing Don Rashard, I'm seeing
Ambrose, I'm seeing all these people that like when I try to
explain how great they are to other people, they their eyes
may glaze over a little bit until they see it.
So I think that's the moment for me.
It's like you can explain, you can, you can mention these
names, but it's not until you see these artists that you
realize that you know, this is something that is going to be
around for a long time. And it sort of reminds me a
little bit of like just growing up watching MTV and watching
like music videos and you're seeing all this different
variety, but now you're seeing it in alternative music form.
Yeah, I think for me, so my, my first figures was 2018 and I
very fondly remember 2 concerts at the Bijou Theatre, both
featuring Milford Graves and one was a solo percussion concert
and the other was a duo with Jason Moran.
And both of those were, you know, just fantastic just to see
Milford, like, being himself, being his full self, you know,
to an audience that was there for it.
You know, I mean, completely improvised solo percussion on a
proscenium stage, you know, and people were on the edges of
their seats. Another moment from that that I
wrote into a piece for NPR Music at the time was, you know, I was
waiting in line to get into the Milford and Jason duo concert.
And there was an older, you know, white bearded Tennessee
gentleman standing in line next to me.
And we struck up a conversation and, and he was just so excited,
you know, about going in. And I said, oh, are you are you
a fan of of these guys? And he's like, I've never heard
of him. I don't know the first thing
about him that's. Awesome.
And he had this, it turns out this this guy, you know, had
been to every single big ears. He never knew what he was going
to get. He loved that about it.
Every year he came away with like, new favorites.
And, you know, this is not a coastal elite.
You know, this guy was, you know, he lived up in a mountain,
you know, in eastern Tennessee. And and that is one of the
magical things about the festival.
You know, I think there's a selection bias because, you
know, one reason critics feel so at home there is because the way
that we like to think that we listen all the time, that's the
way everybody listens at Big Ears.
I have a similar story with Aja Monet.
So it was she was playing last year and it was a similar
looking, looking gentleman who was standing in line and was
like, what can I expect from this show?
And I was like, well, you know, you just got to go experience
it. And I remember thinking like,
oh, I don't know if this music is for him.
You know, I don't know, he may walk out, but I where I was
sitting, I saw him the entire time and he didn't move.
He was on the front row and he made it appointment find me
after the show and was like, that was incredible.
I'm going to go stream all our music and like just where can I
buy her CD? Stuff like that.
So yeah, I think that's the spirit of.
Well, I want to talk about how Big Ears is for artists just
through the lens of one very special artist attached to
Tennessee, William Tyler. So I love William.
He's the sweetest soul, and he's an amazing guitarist and
incredibly innovative, not only in terms of his own
compositions, but in terms of his collaborations and working
in multimedia. And, you know, William,
William's gone back and forth between Nashville at which was
his home base when I moved to Nashville ten years ago, and Los
Angeles. But I really think of him as a
Nashville artist and he's totally treasured here.
But there's not a ton of recognition in a way, you know,
for him. I mean, he's certainly not
recognized in the way, I don't know, like a country star would
be or even Jason Isbel or someone like that, you know, an
Americana superstar. But in his world, in my world,
he is a superstar. And big ears have supported
William in so many different projects, you know, from his
Electric Appalachia project with Mary Lattimore to his Corduroy
Rhodes project to solo things. And what I one thing I love
about the festival is just seeing him pop up playing with
all different kinds of people. You know, you walk into some
basement room and there he is performing with, I don't know, a
a flute player from Tibet. That's I made that up.
But you know what I mean. And I think this festival is so
important for artists and particularly for Southern
artists and who who don't necessarily have the venues and
the institutions to support them as much as they should be
supported. I mean, y'all, you know, if you
live in New York, if you live in the New York area, in the
tri-state area, you or even DC area, you have a different, you
just have a different range of opportunity all the time.
And Big Ears brings it for the artists as well as the audience
here in the South. What about you, Ashley?
Like we're all sharing our kind of, it sounds like we've gone to
like where the essence of Big Ears is for us.
What about for you? Well, you know, the, the word
curatorial to me kind of hits just about every festival, you
know, but what's what makes Big Ears stand out from the kind of
family of festivals is that there's a lot of mini narratives
kind of connecting so many different artists.
So it's not, you know, and and certain artists serve as a kind
of Nexus to various projects, various collaborations, big, you
know, large projects, smaller trios and duets, etcetera.
And Ashley Caps definitely feeds off of that kind of energy that
the connections as well as the the special projects.
And so a Vijay Iyer or Tyshawn Sori or Aruj Aftab, you know,
all of them serve have played around in the community so much
and, and he he takes full advantage or what out of Leo
Smith, you know, and, and offers him multiple opportunities to
show off various facets of what they're doing.
And you can talk about it, but most festivals get one chance
per artist or each artist gets one opportunity.
Big ears makes the most of this. And to really understand and
feel that community aspect seems to be a priority.
And that curatorial feel is really subtle.
It's not like 60th anniversary of this or 50th anniversary or
reunion thing as other festivals try and do every year.
It's more this is what we've done, this is where we are now
and there might be a peek at some future project too.
So it's a little more subtle. But as such, you know, you
really feel that idea that there's this knowledge and this
insight that comes from years and years of experience and
being within the music community.
And so that's how it stands out for me.
You mentioned that Rusev tab and I think that's a good jump to
talking about kind of moments of arrival or or moments like high
points in terms of artists careers that we've witnessed at
Big ears. And they, I think were you with
me at the Arush show at the Tennessee Theatre.
I mean, when it was this is the year Vulture Prince was out and
Aruge and her incredible band played the set at the Tennessee
Theatre. And you it was just one of those
sets you see and you're like, wow, this is a superstar being
born. And it's interesting, though,
Ashley, that I don't think it would have had the impact
anywhere else, you know, had she played, had they played even
such a focused, powerful set as they played, because everyone in
that room, well, not everyone, but many people in that room had
been with her on this journey for so long, right?
Do you think I'm right, Nate? Yeah, I mean, my impression of
it, you know, having heard Vulture prints and and I was
like, I had a certain impression of her.
And I probably should have known better, but I I, I didn't until
I was in that, in that concert hall.
And you realize, oh, she is first of all, an absolute
musical boss. Like she is a she's a
bandleader. She's mixing it up.
She's got, you know, the, the most incredible virtuosos in
this group. And she is going toe to toe with
each of them and also very generous, you know, about
celebrating them. And then the other part was
she's just so funny. She's hilarious and like, you
know, whatever celestial, precious, you know, nurturing
vibe you get from her from her vocals.
Like she knows exactly how to undercut that.
Yeah, she's got swag. That woman is so much swagger.
So it was just kind of all there, right?
And and she was so comfortable and like just enjoying the
moment. And I think the, you know, that
that's what is it like a 1200 seat haul, but it felt like both
like grandeur and then also like a like a living room vibe.
Yes, totally, totally. Yeah, like, and I've, I've had
tons of little moments like that where you're like, oh, OK, I get
it now. You know, it's interesting too,
Ashley, when you were talking about like the curatorial thing,
There's there's. OK, I want to unpack this.
There is a certain kind of artist, and I, and I talked
about this on the first episode of this podcast a little.
There is a, there is a species of artist who just fits right in
with this festival. And it doesn't have anything to
do with musical style or genre or idiom.
It has to do with a kind of spirit.
And so I would say just rattling off some names like Rhiannon
Giddens is 1, Balaflek is 1, Christian McBride is another.
They mix well. Yeah, like people, people who
are kind of down for whatever. Play well with.
Always at the highest level and and and also have like 6
different projects cooking of their own at any given time.
And so like, what can we say about that?
Like it, you know, is this is this actually its own genre like
big ears, the big ears artist as a kind of.
Like. Like phenotype?
I'll just interject that that at NPR Music, we definitely have
had the conversation of this is like an NPR music genre in that
we attempt to be eclectic just as the festival attempts to be
eclectic. But I wonder if it's, it's
actually increasingly not the norm, but it's increasingly
available. Big Ears, though, has the stamp
on it. But I'm just thinking about how
people listen now and how genre maybe is diminishing.
But actually I'm interested in your point of view because as
someone deep in the jazz world, yeah.
How do you place this in terms of like the gradations and
stratifications of jazz? Well, that, that's a great
question. And I'll never forget on the on
the last day last year on Sunday, I was coming out of the
elevator. It's in my hotel, staying at the
same hotel as Henry Threadgill. And you know, I've worked with
Henry and Henry saw many Kim's running up to me like he needs
to tell me something. He goes, Ashley, this is the
first truly American festival I've ever been part of.
And then he starts to like go into it and he goes, wait a
second, the George Crumb movie starting got to.
Go. That's it right there.
That's the podcast. Henry but it it and and the more
I thought about it, the more, you know, it really makes sense
that it's really about it's not just cross genre, it's sort of
anti genre. You know, it's this idea.
And so we say eclectic, etcetera.
It's just it's sound and music in its most liberated sense.
And I think, again, you know, not to mention Ashley's name too
often, but, you know, and that was his sensibility from the
start. And he's really.
So when you know, Nate, you, you say there are these kind of
artists that mix well and that are always collaborating and
looking for new challenges and new ideas.
Joe Lovano, you know, but also artists who kind of, you know,
like a Beth Gibbons who's defined a sound that finds its
home in so many different types of music, you know, and
different approaches it. That's what really again makes
this festival stand out from others.
And notice that the word jazz is not attached to it.
It's just Big Ears festival. I want to talk about a different
range that this festival honours and realizes, which is which is
age range. You know, one of my favorite
things about Big Ears is it gives me an opportunity to see
elders that I would never get to see otherwise living in
Nashville again. It's more available to those of
y'all who are in the New York area.
But you know, I can think of so many.
And I'll just mention one concert I saw, which was Carla
Blair with her trio at the Tennessee again was so I just
felt honored to be in that presence and have that
opportunity. And I wonder if y'all had
opportunities like that where you got to see someone so
important who is, I mean, truly at close to the end of their
career and they're, they're being honored, but they're also
flourishing artistically in that moment, you know?
My answer, and I think and you were also at this one, is
Annette Peacock. Oh my God, so that was a life
changing moment for me. True.
Yeah. I mean, just and.
And like it was regal and it was like so deep and so like
philosophical. And then it was also like
extremely kind of puckish. Oh my God.
Attitudinal to the Max. She was like toying with
expectations like it was. It was really kind of marvelous,
yes. Do you remember how she just so
Emmett Peacock, of course, a a jazz composer and performer, but
also an, I would call her kind of a singer, song writer,
totally chanteuse, you know? And do you remember how she,
like, just walked off stage at the end with no acknowledgement
of the audience at all? Yeah.
There was, there was also a moment where she had a, she, she
was like playing a track that like, and so there was, she was
sort of playing with this idea. I mean, I, I interpreted this as
like playing with like the veneration and the, the idea of
authenticity because it was just her in a piano, you know, in
this very hushed cathedral like environment.
But at a certain point she like was playing a track and then
like very kind of intentionally, like took her hands off the
piano keyboard. It was like, wait, what's
happening here? Like definitely felt like we
were, we were being punked a little bit.
The scene that's so big, Marcus had missing that.
Like, did you ever have any outstanding performances by
like, old heads, older artists? You know, I was sitting here
trying to scour my brain right now because it's kind of fried,
admittedly. And my stories aren't as cool.
You know, like I think the the oldest head I saw, but of
course, like he's like super famous was Herbie Hancock.
That counts, I have to say that. Counts.
OK, I was, I was struggling with that because I'm like, OK, I
don't, you know, it's Herbie Hancock, but should it be
somebody who's more like avant-garde and cooler or
whatever, whatever. Nobody's cooler than Herbie
Hancock. Herbie, only.
Herbie only acts like he's in his 40s It's true.
That's rare. That's fair.
But I, I thought I remember seeing him last year and just
wondering like, you know, how does he have the energy to keep
going? Because how old is he, like
8483, something like that. Like, and like you said, like
you alluded to, like you would think just by his energy, you
would think he's in his 40s, you know, So I remember seeing that
and just wondering like, you know, where does he derive that
energy from, especially after all these years of performing
the same music over and over? But you would never know that he
had to do that because there was just such joy deriving from how
he was playing piano. And you know how Terence
Blanchard was playing. Like, the band was so energized
that you would have thought it was the 70s, you know, or the
80s or something like that. Charles Lloyd.
Oh that's I love that. That was an incredible, that was
an incredible show. I love that show.
That was, that was an example of a show where I was like, you
know, I've seen, I've seen many, many Charles Lloyd concerts.
I'm going to, I'm going to sit with this one, you know,
probably catch half of it and then slip out.
No, no, I was lazy there. I was there for the long haul.
I I could not, could not tear myself away.
I know he. Was he?
He was calling on the spirits and calling on the elders and
sculpting with smoke and dancing, you know.
It was so I Yeah. And dapping up Larry Grenadier.
That's. That's who just Oh my God, and
how how Larry's Larry, just the level of his playing in that set
was incredible to me is that was killer.
I thought that might be a good segue to, you know, we're, we're
all doing a bunch of stuff. Maybe each of us could like
forward promote one thing that we're doing because this there's
so much. Well, definitely Barry Alshaw
to, to kind of catch up with him to talk about the history, but
also see what he's doing now because he, you know, he, he
connected to, to such, so many great improvisers at such an
important moment in the New York scene in the early 70s.
And you know, to, to, to hear what's going on with him is I'm,
I'm very excited about it. So I, I have the schedule up.
So I will say for the record that that conversation is
happening on Friday, March 28th at 11:30 AM.
So if you're building your big year schedule, that is the, the
Barry Altchell, Ashley Con conversation.
Marcus what, What are you excited about?
So I'm going to be in conversation with Don Richard
this year and this will be the second time I've spoken with
Don. The first time was during that
epic Seven interview run that I did in 2021 that that I'm trying
to forget about. But so no, this time I'm talking
to Don. Obviously, there's some other
things that haven't locked in yet.
But with Don, Dawn is she's become a colleague.
She's become a friend, so to speak.
You know, so every time I talk to Don, it always feels like
there's a conversation between two people who know each other.
And but I'm fascinated by Dawn's trajectory, you know, because
obviously we all know her as like, you know, being at the
height of fame and like, you know, she was in the pop group
Danity Kane. But now she has since become
like ambient musician, you know, with Spencer's on.
So I'm interested to talk to her about her trajectory from that
to now and what she's learned about herself along the way and
what the new music and what her recent sort of music conveys
about where she's going artistically.
That will be also on Friday, March 28th at 12:30 PM.
So you could conceivably do Ashley's panel and then book it
over to Marcus's panel back-to-back.
Yes, do that. So, Anne, what have you got?
Well, I'm very thrilled to be speaking with Joe Boyd, the
legendary polymath producer, filmmaker, writer, man who
helped invent the 60s and 70s and, and just an endlessly
curious person. I mean, I, I, I first discovered
Joe Boyd's work because I was a massive Nick Drake fanatic when
I was in my early 20s. And Joe, of course, was Nick
Drake's producer and, and really like his kind of amanensis in
the world. But I mean, what hasn't Joe Boyd
done? He's done so much and he's going
to be having a residency as part of the film series that Lily
Keebler puts together for Big ears.
And I'm going to be talking to him about his incredible new
book, which is called and the roots of rhythm remain a journey
through global music. This book is insane.
It's like almost 1000 pages long.
It, it, it really does tell the history of not just musical
history, but, you know, politics and culture through the lens of
rhythm. And I just leave it on my dining
room table and read a little bit of it every day, you know, But I
couldn't be more excited to talk to Joe Boy.
It's going to be great. You know, I, I am excited for
that talk and I have to say I just got my copy of that book.
It's insane it's so thick. It's it's the Finnegan's way.
It's. The Finnegan's way of music.
Or so so so two thoughts #1 there's no way I'm going to
digest even an appreciable part of it before the festival #2 I
would love to bring it and have him sign it, but I would need an
extra suitcase. Oh my God.
In Tennessee, I am driving to the festival so I can do that.
There you go. But yeah, he's, I, I have so
much admiration for him and I hope I get to say hello.
And so that talk is happening on Sunday, March 30th at 11:30 AM.
And I guess I will mention a talk that I'm doing on Sunday at
10:00 AM. So you could double dip again,
this, this could be the, the appetizer course before the Joe
Boyd conversation. So this this is this is an, an
interesting panel. I'm really curious to see how it
goes. The title we came up with is
1965 Sound Fire and Revolution. And it's going to be a panel
with three artists who are, you know, just heavy musicians and
incredible listeners and, and kind of, you know, cultural
historians in a way. Guitarist Nels Klein, bassist
Melvin Gibbs and drummer Chad Taylor, which also sounds like a
pretty killer rhythm section. I mean, it's going to be, it's
going to be hard not to just be sitting up there and imagining
what the three of them would sound like together.
But, yeah, you know, I, I was sort of inspired by the idea
that, you know, 1965, of course, is the year that brings us John
Coltrane's A Love Supreme and Archie Shep's Fire Music and Don
Cherry's complete Communion. You know, it's the it's the year
that Malcolm X is assassinated. It's the year of the Selma to
Montgomery March. American troops are landing in
Vietnam. I mean, there's just, there's a
lot going on in the culture and in the music and artists at that
moment are speaking directly to the turmoil and also the sort of
the push toward enlightenment. So there's just a lot to unpack.
And I'm I'm looking forward to having a, a lively conversation
about it with some people who really know how to connect the
dots. Well, I love the panels that
that we present at Big Ears and they always illuminate what's
going on so powerfully, what's going on musically so
powerfully, as do the one-on-one conversation.
So everybody who might be listening out there, it's worth,
you know, caffeinating and coming on over to to the talks.
I know it's tempting to just go have brunch in one of
Knoxville's beautiful restaurants, but come see our
talks. They they're always really fun
and great. I know the human.
They're going to die. I think they're really about
community outreach and the idea of audience building, which is
the self perpetuating thing that every festival needs to
consider. You know, year by year, they're
almost competing with their own history.
But the idea that you can build a community, build an audience,
and that you really need to make sure that your audience doesn't
just age out. And I think these kind of talks
and also educational outreach, which I know Big Ears is
involved with too. There's a course on Big Ears
being taught at UT University of Tennessee this year for the
first time. That's awesome.
You know, as you're talking, it just occurs to me to say this
out loud. You know, all of us can attest
to the, you know, the erosion, if not dismantling of arts
journalism, to say nothing of arts criticism.
It's it's tough out there. It gets tougher every year, you
know, and you mentioned John Schaefer earlier, you know,
like. New sounds great.
Program you. Know leaving the airwaves of
WNRC. An institution, right and we've
seen we've seen so many difficult turns in the
ecosystem. And so I think it's really, you
know, I don't think any of us takes it for granted, but it's,
it's worth saying out loud that a, an event like this that
platforms and prioritizes the critical perspective and
critical engagement with artists, with audiences, with
each other, as we're doing now, like that is something rare in
this moment and we certainly appreciate it.
Absolutely. Well, information and insight,
you know, behind good writing, you know, is something that we
always need more of. So hats off to you, Marcus, for
doing what you're doing with your, your students there.
I mean, that's, that's what we need.
No, definitely. And what I always try to tell my
students in class is, you know, like because they're learning
hard news, so they're learning how to report on hard news and
sports, but I'm like, no music journalism.
You have to have the same rigor and you have to tap into the
sort of emotion of these people. You know, it's essentially
therapy on paper, at least that how it is for me.
And so hopefully I'm teaching the kids the right way, but
that's definitely how I. Convey my writing and I hope
that the future generation can do the same.
And I feel like, and I say all that to say, I feel like this
festival does that in a real way because I mean, not to
oversimplify it, but it's just some really good hang.
You know what I mean? Yeah.
Exactly. That's the thing.
It's like we're getting all this crazy music, but then you can,
like you say, you can cut the corner and see this person or
see that person over there. And we all have these very
pronounced memories of big Ears. And I think there's something to
be said about us sitting here on a call right now is talking
about it for an hour. You know, I think that speaks to
the power of the festival and the fact that something like
this needs to keep going on, keep marching on as strongly as
possible. Yes, totally agree.
And and another really important component of being a music
critic for me is, is having casting the widest net possible
in terms of what I learn about music.
And that includes, you know, global music and and that
includes, you know, every style and genre.
And we've been talking a lot about the experimental music and
the jazz that's at this festival.
We've mentioned, you know, someone like Don Richard is a
great example, though, of, of the kind of Big Ears artists
that also connects to the mainstream pop world in the
sense. And you know, those those kinds
of artists are at this festival too.
And, and I really encourage people, I always encourage
people who have any interest in curiosity and even even if their
main love is Americana music or R&B or, you know, even
mainstream pop, it's you're going to find something at Big
Ears that makes your head spin around and changes your, your
vision. It changes your rather not your
vision changes the way you hear things.
That's what's most important. It might even be a breakfast
sandwich at Potsky. Oh yeah, that changes the way I
taste things for sure. Just to say one thing about
Knoxville as a place and about the setting of the festival, I'm
curious, like if each of you has one thing you love.
And yes, I'm going to say I love the food at Potschke.
It's incredible Eastern European food, so delicious.
But there is something special about the locale of this
festival. I don't know, Nate, what makes
Knoxville special? I really think it's the, it's
just the energy. It's like a, it's almost like a
energy field in, in the downtown area during the festival where
you're, you're sort of like and, and whether whether it's like
during the the morning hours when not not much has really
started up yet. Like you, you just get this
feeling like it's, there's a, there's a mass receptivity just
centered. I mean, during that weekend,
it's probably the like most, you know, intense locale on the
planet for like, like, like oral intake, you know, like so like
thousands of people listening really intently at the same
time. And then also like, you know,
when you run into people on the street, you know, and you're
like crossing paths, it's like, what did, what did you see?
Well, where are you going? You know, sometimes you change
your plans based on that, you know, And so I don't know,
there's, there's just something. And it's funny, last year I was
standing in line for biscuits and struck up a conversation
with a couple who were in town for like a conference that had
nothing to do with the festival. They didn't know what Big Ears
was. And, you know, they were not big
ears people per SE, but based on my conversation with them, they
ended up buying a couple of tickets to see Andre 3000.
I love it, you know, Well, they're like, well, while we're
in town, we might as well go see Dre, you know, and I, I, I wish
I could have, I wish I had gotten their information because
I would have loved to hear what they thought after the fact.
But like, as we were standing in line, they they got their
tickets for that that evening. Wow, that's awesome.
And their whole lifestyle has probably changed.
They're dressing. Differently now.
Going to commune and they're. Living exactly, you know, and it
all comes down to that one moment.
Completely cashew nut smoothies every morning, you know well
what we were going to do. One pick.
Like one thing that we were excited about, that was an off
the beaten track pick for us y'all.
We're going to, you know, get together at the festival and we
hope everyone comes and hears us chop it up and talk about what
we're excited about and, you know, in a bigger way.
But I don't know, let's let's just let's just throw out one
pick each something that you don't know what it's going to be
like maybe, but you're intrigued.
Who wants to go first? I want to.
I want to see what Joy Guidry does.
She plays the bassoon, She can play in orchestras, but she also
does like this avant-garde jazz. I guess you can call it maybe.
I've been intrigued by Joyce since I heard her do a remake of
Max Roach's Members Don't Get Weary a couple of years ago on
an album. I think it was like the opening
track of her album. I could be getting that wrong,
but I'm fascinated to see how that translates to a live stage.
So my pick of a person who I haven't seen is going to be joy
for sure. I love the idea of double Reed
instrument in jazz and I also love the idea of an acoustic.
You know, acoustic and laptop, you know, kind of combination,
which is what I've seen Joy do. So I'm with you there for me.
Hey, Lotto Negro, you know, and the the kind of melodies that he
comes up, these subtle melodies. It's almost like for me, it
echoes it. It's this echo with Yola Tango
in that same way, you know, And so I want to catch both of them.
But hey, Lotto Negro, I've never seen lives.
I'm excited to go to a performance of a piece called 26
Little Deaths by the composer and musician Carla Kilstedt.
This work is based on Edward Gorey's Gastly Crumb tinies, The
the alphabet that he created that my daughter memorized when
she was about 10 years old, the entire Goshley Crum Tiny's.
You know, it's a sort of a, a morbid, a wondrously morbid
alphabet about all the ways that these figures died.
So my favorite is Anne is for Neville, who died of ennui.
So I'm very interested to see what Carla Kielcett does with
this work that I love and yeah, creating it, making it into
something new. Thinking about, you know, people
I haven't seen do their thing. Probably the the name that I
gravitate to is June Mcdoom. Oh yeah.
And Marcus, you, you may have had the full June Mcdoom
experience, but you know, I've, I've only really encountered her
through the Emmanuel Wilkins Blues Blood Project, which is
also at the festival and which I highly recommend.
But, you know, June is a singer-songwriter with this kind
of 70s folk influence that is also, you know, melding into her
Jamaican upbringing and jazz and sort of art song.
She wrote most of most, if not all of the lyrics on the songs
in Blues Blood and, and she's a, you know, a really pervasive
vocal presence in performance. I've found her to be really
captivating, but I don't really know what it's going to be like
to see her do her own thing entirely.
So that's that's what I'm looking forward to.
Well I'm also looking forward to seeing all of y'all so can't
wait. Next time in Knoxville.
All right. See you guys then.
Big Ears Conversations about Music is a production of Big
Ears Festival. The show is produced by Meet
Matt Marowitz. Trevor Smith is our editor.
Ashley Capps is the executive and artistic director of Big
Ears Festival. For more information, visit
bigearsfestival.org.