Updated March 30, 2026, 9:03 p.m. ET
The 2026 Big Ears Festival took over downtown Knoxville venues March 26-29, bringing curious listeners from all over the world to East Tennessee for a wide-ranging musical exhibition.
National outlets from The New York Times to Rolling Stone have praised the festival over the years since it was created by Knoxville native Ashley Capps in 2009, and this year’s iteration was among its most ambitious yet.
Artists booked in 2026 ranged from virtuosic jazz quintets like SML to classic frontmen like David Byrne and Robert Plant. Up-and-coming singer-songwriters like Ken Pomeroy were part of the lineup, along with industrial and electronic movers and shakers like Model/Actriz and Flying Lotus.
Knox News was there for it all, taking in the sights and sounds from the front row and capturing what makes Big Ears stand out as one of the most progressive music festivals in the country.
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It might be an overused word, Ashley Capps said, but “community” truly is what Big Ears Festival does best. The Knoxville native and festival founder values Big Ears’ role as an annual anchor for people to “get together one-on-one, in person and share the experience of music.” The festival, Capps said, “is an extraordinary opportunity in a time where, increasingly, listening to music seems to be an isolated endeavor outside of gatherings like this.” The annual festival kickoff was held at the Knoxville Museum of Art, an official festival venue that hosted free performances during the weekend for those without a pass. In addition to their own songs, artists sang Capps’ praises and spoke fondly of the festival’s ability to bring together world-class acts from across the globe, along with open-minded listeners. Singer-songwriter Ken Pomeroy said during her Friday set at The Point that Big Ears as already her highlight of 2026. “Every year with this festival is just insane,” she said. “Everyone who’s playing I’m like, ‘Well, everyone is on my bucket list.’ So, I don’t know how we’re going to be at 20 places at once, but we’re so, so, so excited to be here.”
Nineteen-year-old Muireann Bradley played her country blues for two packed performances at Boyd’s Jig and Reel. While the Old City bar is famously “Scottish, not Irish,” Bradley hails from Ireland and is one of the many folks who travel from around the world to be in Knoxville for the festival. This year, artists booked for the festival represented countries including Poland, Senegal, Spain and Ukraine. For Bradley, the Big Ears appearance also marked her first visit to Knoxville. Knox News met up with the young guitarist Saturday morning to give her a “crash course” on the Scruffy City. We walked and talked about Knoxville and her career, and we’ll have more to share about her visit soon.
Everyone knows Flea, the acclaimed bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. While he wasn’t at Big Ears, his bassist was. Their name is Anna Butterss, and their jazz-jam band SML held a residency at the former downtown Greyhound station throughout Big Ears weekend. SML guitar player Gregory Uhlmann would later join Hand Habits on stage at The Point alongside Blake Mills, who has worked as a solo artist but was at Big Ears to present a collaborative project. He has produced for Alabama Shakes, Fiona Apple and Marcus Mumford, among others, while fellow Big Ears artist Flying Lotus has done the same for Thundercat, Mac Miller and Kendrick Lamar. Big Ears is that kind of festival where connections run wild between artists and sometimes fans, many of whom anecdotally have ties to the music industry in one way or another. The Greyhound station, where performances took place in the round, brought people together in a physical way with no barriers of separation between artists and onlookers, who huddled together and shared in the immersion as projections illuminated the walls around them to the beat of the music.
Knox News journalists spent the weekend up against the rail with music fans at The Mill & Mine, squeezing in tight to make room in the church pews and debating like everyone else which (or how many) of those SML sets fit best within our schedules. Our front-row view led to some unique angles for sets like Flying Lotus, whose use of projections in the foreground and a screen behind created a 3D effect for the audience no matter where they were standing in the room. Photos were not allowed at the two add-on performances by Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, so we can only describe the screens that surrounded him, which at points displayed a cycle of humorous bumper stickers. But the final sticker, a nod to his love for Knoxville, didn’t seem like a joke at all considering Byrne was spotted riding a bike downtown during the festival. He was last booked at Big Ears for a talk at the Tennessee Theatre in 2023 but made time to join Terry Allen on stage for a song. Both artists returned to Big Ears in 2026 to perform at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium.
What used to be PostModern Spirits became the PostModern Sound Exchange for Big Ears, where a pop-up by Knoxville coffee shop Primo Passo provided attendees much-needed caffeine to make it through a weekend of wide-ranging performances, including by cellist Janel Leppin. Some pop-ups were part of the festival, while others were organized by businesses looking to join in on the festival fun. Business gets a boost when Big Ears arrives each spring. The festival collaborates with artists and merch vendors in preparation for the weekend, while attendees eat, drink and shop local. Artists and volunteers use the meal voucher program to put more dollars into the pockets of local businesses like The Tomato Head and A Dopo. “Knoxville is the real headliner here,” festival director Bryan Crow told Knox News earlier this month. “The infrastructure, the venues … but then also the restaurants, the hotels − that’s really what makes something like this possible.”
Nels Cline has performed all over downtown Knoxville since he first played at the Pilot Light in the early 2000s. The guitarist and composer has showcased numerous projects here, including his band Wilco, and he’s taken the stage at so many of the city’s venues largely because of Big Ears. In addition to festival appearances, such as this secret show at the Blue Note Lounge, Cline performed “Lovers” at the Tennessee Theatre. It was a serendipitous show on its 10th anniversary after a previous canceled Big Ears performance, and it just so happened to be in a theater the guitarist told Knox News he loves. We sat down with Cline on the first day of Big Ears inside the under-construction recording studio where the Tennessee Theatre is expanding at 612 S. Gay St. We talked about Knoxville, the festival and what keeps him coming back. Musically speaking, Cline wears a lot of hats. It’s because of Big Ears and the quality of downtown venues that make Knoxville the place where artists like Cline get to try them all on.
Ryan Wilusz, business growth and development editor for Knox News, covered his sixth Big Ears Festival in 2026. Hayden Dunbar is the storyteller reporter, and 2026 was her second year covering the festival. Reach them via email and follow them on Instagram: ryan.wilusz@knoxnews.com (@KnoxScruff) and hayden.dunbar@knoxnews.com (@KnoxStoryteller).