A unique urban/small town, music/arts festival is coming to Knoxville for four days, Thursday-Sunday, March 30-April 2, 2023. The website shows an array of performers – from vintage acts to fresh new talent.
As Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker, “At Big Ears, the sounds are the stars, free of the tyranny of categories.”
The festival takes place throughout downtown Knoxville in more than a dozen venues: historic theaters, intimate clubs, majestic churches, pocket parks, galleries and repurposed industrial spaces. The website quotes a journalist who wrote, “Knoxville has the most venues with good sound within walking distance of any place in America.”
Knoxville native Ashley Capps is both executive and artistic director. He began promoting concerts in 1979 while finishing his degree at the University of Tennessee. In 1991, Capps founded AC Entertainment which promots concerts regionally and he went on to found the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
Capps is smart and bold and, as the old-timers say, has a helluva Rolodex. It’s pretty amazing, actually, that this remarkable event is happening in our town and is celebrating its 10th year.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.