“Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival has revealed its 2018 lineup featuring a multitude of musical genres—spiritual, jazz, electronic, classical, rock, folk and bluegrass—and a new Appalachian Homecoming event,” writes Maggie Jones in Wednesday’s (11/1) USA Today. “Highlights include bluegrass musicians Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, composer and sitar player Anoushka Shankar, jazz band Medeski Martin & Wood, and DJ Kid Koala, who will bring 50 turntables for interactive audience performances. Big Ears 2018 will run from Thursday, March 22 through Sunday, March 25 … in … downtown Knoxville venues…. Anna Roberts-Gevalt … will curate the [Appalachian] homecoming … It will also have square dances, a fiddler’s convention, picking sessions and a food component…. The [jazz] lineup has legendary jazz drummer Melford Graves, pianist Jason Moran, a collaboration from the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra and Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and more…. A strong spiritual thread will run through the festival this year. One performance includes the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra playing the African spiritual ‘Were You There’ with baritone Davoné Tines.” Other performers include International Contemporary Ensemble, Bang on a Can All Stars, Brooklyn Rider quartet, and Wordless Music Orchestra.
Posted November 3, 2017
