NEW VENUE / ARTIST SPOTLIGHTS
New Year, New Venue: Regas Square Events
We’re thrilled to announce a new venue as part of Big Ears 2024. Regas Saure Events—located just a block or so from The Mill & Mine, Jackson Terminal, The Standard, and the Old City Performing Arts Center—only opened only a few months ago. It’s a unique space that offers terrific audio and video technology and some new possibilities, and will bring a new dimension to the Big Ears experience. Explore the venue here.
Artist Spotlights
The Evolution of Yasmin Williams
Based in Alexandria, VA, Yasmin Williams is an acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and film composer. She has an unorthodox, modern style of guitar playing and utilizes various techniques including alternate tunings, percussive hits, and lap tapping in her music to great effect. She sat down with Songlines’ Spencer Grady last year to chat about her evolution from Guitar Hero to acoustic axe pioneer.
Find out more about Big Ears 2024 artists through Songlines, a magazine dedicated to music and traditions from around the world. Sign up to their FREE weekly newsletter here.
Aoife O’Donovan’s Powerful New Anthem
One of our great living American singer-songwriters, Aoife O’Donovan, will return to Big Ears on the heels of a very special new recording, All My Friends, inspired by the speeches and letters of suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt. O’Donovan brings a contemporary and personal perspective to being a woman at this moment in America, reflecting on what’s changed and what hasn’t in the century or so since the 19th Amendment enshrined women’s right to vote. She’ll be joined by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra on Sunday, March 24, in a very special Big Ears performance.
‘I See a Darkness’ Revisited
25 years ago today, Will Oldham released his sixth album, I See a Darkness, and his first as Bonnie “Prince” Billy. The album was met with high praise and even earned the highly coveted 10.0 from Pitchfork. The haunting masterpiece is a collection of devastating gothic folk ballads best listened to after the sun sets. We’re pleased to have Oldham return to Big Ears Festival on Saturday, March 23.
Julian Lage to Release New Album
Guitar master Julian Lage announced that his new album, Speak to Me, is set to drop March 1. The vivid 13-track set of new Lage originals, produced by Joe Henry, crosses wires between gospel hymns and rural blues, California singer-songwriter sunshine and skronky jazz. Both Julian Lage and the Speak to Me Band and Joe Henry and the Julian Lage Trio perform on Sunday, March 24 at Big Ears Festival.
Festival Pass Shipping Update
This year, Big Ears is mailing festival wristbands to patrons and will begin shipping in as little as three weeks. In advance, we strongly recommend that you review the shipping address and info associated with your order to ensure that wristbands are delivered to the correct address. Once passes begin shipping, you will not be able to change your address. Each shipment will also include information about registering your wristband online to protect against theft or loss and open up possible special opportunities during the festival weekend.
Head to bigearsfestival.frontgatetickets.com to access your account.
