Big Ears
Latest News
2022 Lineup
NEW ORLEANS / HAITI AND BEYOND
FEATURING BIG EARS’ FIRST-EVER KREWE DU KANAVAL
CURATED BY PRESERVATION HALL’S BEN JAFFE
KREWE DU CATTYWAMPUS PARADE & STREET PARTY
WRITERS & POETS
BIG EARS AT THE PILOT LIGHT
BIG EARS AT BOYD’S JIG & REEL
About Big ears
Big Ears collaborates with artists, audiences, and communities to create joyful, meaningful, and transcendent cultural experiences that defy boundaries, fuel curiosity, ignite the spirit, and nourish the soul.
About Us
Each year, we count on the enthusiasm and expertise of a corps of dedicated volunteers. Learn more about how to get involved!
Broadcast your love of music and support Big Ears at the same time! Our online store features a variety of designs from recent Festival years.
Big Ears is deeply connected to the city of Knoxville. Each year, just as we delight in sharing new listening experiences with audiences, introducing visitors to our town is a point of immense pride. Learn all about this great city and explore resources we’ve gathered to help you plan your next trip!
Your partnership makes it possible for us to sustain, year after year, the extraordinary—and all-too-rare—range of work that sets Big Ears apart from other festivals. We can only do what we do because of you.
Big Ears shares the joy and transformative power of extraordinary music and art with tens of thousands of people annually thanks in large part to corporate, foundation, and government investment.
What they’re Saying
Our PressContained within a walkable radius of historic downtown Knoxville…[Big Ears] creates its own atmospheric climate, along with a center of gravity.
Instead of sales metrics or star power, Big Ears contemplates the perceptual properties of music …
At the silo-destroying Big Ears Festival, music liberated from the confines of category and overt commercialism.
The Big Ears Festival, which unfolds each spring in Knoxville, Tennessee, might be the most open-minded music gathering in the country.
There’s no other festival quite like Big Ears.
One of the most quietly earth-shattering, subtly luminous festivals the world over.
