TIMELY RETURNS AND GLOBAL RHYTHMS

ANOHNI and the Johnsons

Sixteen years after they first graced the stage at the inaugural Big Ears Festival, ANOHNI and the Johnsons makes a timely return aligning with the launch of their latest album. On My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, ANOHNI addresses “loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, acceptance, cruelty, ecocide, devastation wrought by Abrahamic theologies, Future Feminism, and the possibility that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our spiritual ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature” (Rough Trade Records).

Read: “Anohni on Hope, Her Tour, and the Misogyny of Transphobia”

DakhaBrakha

If you were with us in 2017 then you may remember Ukrainian world music quartet DakhaBrakha’s captivating performance at The Standard Knoxville. The thumping hard-rock percussion topped by accordion, frantic vocals, and sweeping cello runs left us dancing into the night. Get ready to live it all again when DakhaBrakha returns.

Watch: DakhaBrakha: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

Meshell Ndegeocello

Meshell Ndegeocello’s August release, No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin, is a musical homage to the influential writer James Baldwin, celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth. Inspired by Baldwin’s groundbreaking 1963 essays in The Fire Next Time, the album reflects these works’ deep spiritual impact. At Big Ears 2025, she will showcase selections from the album. Additionally, she’ll perform as part of King Britt, Tyshawn Sorey, and Friends.

Watch: “Trouble” (from ‘No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin’)