Inside the 2027 Big Ears Festival Lineup with Ashley Capps

The 2027 Big Ears Festival lineup dropped this morning and, as usual, it’s a lot to take in. Returning to downtown Knoxville April 1-4, 2027, for its 14th iteration, the festival brings together a dizzying mix of the world’s leading musical visionaries for four days of performances across two dozen venues.

Scanning the lineup fine print, my brain went to do the thing brains are so good at when trying to make sense of this oft-incongruent world: look for patterns, a theme, a thru-thread.

Some years have made that easier than others, especially early on. I think of 2010, when The National guitarist Bryce Dessner co-curated a lineup heavy on experimental indie rock, or 2014, when composer Steve Reich helped shape the program. Other years leaned into folk and bluegrass, or jazz, or a suspiciously large per-capita of Norwegian acts, etc.

But as Big Ears has grown and evolved, those kinds of containers, always pretty porous to begin with, have increasingly fallen away. The festival’s programming has taken on a sort of life of its own. Not that it programs itself, obviously; the amount of work behind its curation is staggering, and fresh influences are vital. But now, 14 years in, Big Ears seems to have its own momentum, its own ever-expanding spiderweb of relationships and musical conversations, spun a little farther outward with each year.

Self-edit: a “web” metaphor feels too fixed, too precisely radial, too visible. Perhaps it’s more like mycelium spreading underground in directions that are impossible to map. What we see above ground, the mushroom, so to speak, is only the visible expression of a much larger network of connections underneath. 

I spoke with Big Ears founder and Executive and Artistic Director Ashley Capps for a peek inside this year’s curation process. He more or less confirmed what I suspected: There’s a lot going on, a combination of organics and logistics. He goes where it takes him.  

“The programming is an ongoing process,” he said. “There are different ideas and conversations in the months following the festival. Sometimes they’ve been going on for a while, sometimes they pop up unexpectedly, and eventually it all starts coming together.”

There’s no overarching theme to the 2027 lineup, he said: “This year there are a number of different threads running through the festival. It’s hard to hone in on just one that’s important.” 

There was, however, one artist in particular who got his wheels turning: Jeff Tweedy, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco.

Capps was first drawn in by Tweedy’s 2025 triple album Twilight Override. Which I’m listening to as I write this. “It’s a disarmingly intimate record full of great songs,” he said. “The music crept under my skin.”

That led Capps to Tweedy’s book World Within a Song: Music That Changed My Life and Life That Changed My Music, a collection of essays about 50 songs that shaped his life (and vice-versa). “He writes very clearly and directly but also eloquently about the power of music and how it can help us make sense of experiences we have in life and share experiences with others. How it can open you up to the world,” Capps said. “It was a touchstone for me. There’s a lot of food for thought in that book. It provided a lot of ideas that I started thinking about as I programmed the festival.”

Like Capps, Tweedy has always been a pioneer; Wilco’s genre-bending Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was my 2001 anthem, each song reflecting back to me some scenario in my messy, atmospheric young-adult life. The next year I followed some 70,000 curious music lovers to a middle Tennessee farm where a brand new festival called Bonnaroo, co-created by Capps, birthed a whole new generation of destination music festivals that persists today.

Music has a way of stirring the cocktail of our emotional experiences, bringing certain things into focus and helping us process what we may have struggled to articulate on our own, another point in Tweedy’s book.

In my own mind, as I’m sure in yours, certain songs and artists or live music experiences are forever enmeshed with certain moments or eras in life. After 14 years as a Big Ears attendee — I’ve rarely missed an edition — it summons vivid memories: the sensory experience, who I was with, how a performance interacted with my specific state of mind. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast, but these are vivid place-markers in my psyche that I will carry with me forever. 

At Big Ears 2027, Tweedy himself will be joined by Natalie Merchant, Courtney Barnett, Weyes Blood, Jim James, Rosanne Cash, Valerie June and Mavis Staples, with separately ticketed performances by Norah Jones, Nathaniel Rateliff and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

“Perhaps there’s a strong singer-songwriter element this year, thinking about the power of songs,” Capps said. “But it went way beyond that.”

Tweedy’s book, World Within a Song, is full of rabbit holes: one song leading to another artist, another memory, another tradition, another brushstroke of history. Big Ears has always worked a little like that too. You go to hear one thing and, several hours later, find yourself happily several musical zip codes away. You’re reminded that everything is more permeable and symbiotic than it appears.

That idea runs throughout the 2027 festival. Bass player and scholar Melvin Gibbs will curate How Black Music Took Over the World, tracing the reach and influence of Black music through a series of performances that include a celebration of Gullah Geechee traditions from the Georgia Sea Islands and South Carolina Lowcountry.

Elsewhere, artists are reaching backward and sideways through musical history. Evan Ziporyn and Maya Beiser take on David Bowie’s Blackstar with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. Petra Haden reimagines King Crimson for a cappella voices. The Big Star Quintet gathers Jon Auer, Mike Mills, Pat Sansone, Chris Stamey and Jody Stephens around the music of the legendary Memphis band. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings will play the Grateful Dead’s Acoustic Reckoning.

Another anchor: Bang on a Can’s 40th anniversary. Its marathon concerts were an early inspiration for Big Ears itself, Capps says, and the Bang on a Can All-Stars will return for six concerts, including Philip Glass’ Glassworks, Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians and Ryuichi Sakamoto’s 1996, alongside music by the organization’s three composer-founders.

Other connections stretch farther afield. Ragamala, the festival’s immersion in Indian classical music, expands from eight hours last year to 12. Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla will revisit his landmark Ronroco. Penguin Cafe arrives carrying both new music and the legacy of the late Simon Jeffes’ Penguin Cafe Orchestra. And Trio of Bloom — guitarist Nels Cline (a Big Ears frequent flier, also of Wilco), keyboardist Craig Taborn and drummer Marcus Gilmore — will perform together in concert for the first time.

There are classical virtuosos, jazz legends, electronic pioneers … it goes on. And that still barely scratches the surface. More than 250 concerts and performances, along with films, conversations, workshops, exhibitions and more will unfold across downtown over four days. “It’s a real treasure trove of a lineup,” Capps said. He noted that it will take shape in largely the same footprint as last year, minus the former Postmodern Spirits, and once again including the vacant Greyhound station at Central and Magnolia.

There is no single idea that explains Big Ears, and trying to find one probably misses the point. Instead, there are musical conversations happening in every direction: between generations and traditions, between things you already love and things you didn’t know existed five minutes ago. The festival sets those connections in motion. What happens once the music gets inside your head is up to you.

See the full Big Ears 2027 lineup below or at bigearsfestival.org. Passes go on sale Wednesday, September 16, at 9 a.m. ET, after an early pre-sale for festival donors and previous festival pass purchasers.

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Full Lineup (Alphabetical)

@  •  Adam O’Farrill’s ELEPHANT  •  Adrian Sherwood  •  Amina Claudine Myers  •  Ana Roxanne  •  Andy Stott  •  Ava Mendoza and Hamid Drake  •  Avey Tare  •  Avishai Cohen – Big Vicious  •  Bang On A Can – Celebrates 40 Years  •  Beauty Pill  •  Bedouine  •  The Big Star Quintet  •  Bill Frisell Residency  •  Bob James  •  Brad Mehldau Trio  •  Bronwyn  •  Carla dal Forno  •  Case Oats  •  Charlotte Mundy  •  Che Apalache  •  Chicha Libre  •  Chris Potter “Alive With Ghosts Today”  •  Chucho Valdés Royal Quartet  •  Cornelius  •  Courtney Barnett  •  Craig Taborn Trio  •  Dagmar Zuniga  •  Daniel Lanois  •  Dave Harrington, Jay Bellerose & Billy Mohler  •  David Murray Quartet  •  Dawn of Midi  •  Diles Que No Me Maten  •  Dinner Party (Robert Glasper / Terrace Martin / Kamasi Washington/9th Wonder)  •  Dirty Projectors (solo)  •  Discovery Zone •  Efrim Manuel Menuck and Tashi Dorji Present BLOOM AND RUIN  •  El Khat  •  Ettore Buzzini  •  Fabiano do Nascimento  •  Finom  •  Gillian Welch & David Rawlings play Grateful Dead Acoustic Reckoning  •  goat (jp)  •  Greg Tardy •  Gustavo Santaolalla  •  The Hands Free  •  Hannibal Buress  •  Helado Tropical  •  Helen  •  Hemphill Stringtet with Ursula Oppens  •  Horse Lords  •  How Black Music Took Over the World: A Melvin Gibbs Curation  •  HYUKOH  •  Ida  •  Ingrid Laubrock’s Grammy Season + DoYeon Kim  •  Jakob Bro / Joe Lovano / Midori Takada  •  James Brandon Lewis Quartet  •  James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg  •  Jasper Llewellyn  •  JD Pinkus Triptych  •  Jeff Parker ETA IVtet  •  Jeff Tweedy  •  Jeremiah Chiu  •  Jessica Pavone String Ensemble  •  Jim James  •  Jim White Trio  •  Joan Shelley  •  Joanne Robertson  •  John Carroll Kirby  •  Josh Johnson ANIMATIVE  •  Judith Berkson Trio  •  Kahil ElZabar & David Murray  •  Kaki King  •  Kali Malone Presents Burning Song  •  Kalia Vandever & Dave Harrington  • Kalia Vandever Quartet  •  Karen Y Los Remedios  •  Karly Hartzman  •  KatzPascale  •  Ken Vandermark  •  Kevin Morby  •  Kronos Quartet with Peni Candra Rini  •  L’Rain  •  Leenalchi  •  Lia Kohl  •  Liam Kazar  •  Linda May Han Oh  •  Lovano / Makhathini / Morgan / Cyrille  •  Lucy Railton  •  Luke Schneider Curation: Chrome Universal – Modern Pedal Steel Guitar  •  Magic Tuber Stringband  •  MANAS  •  Manu Delago & Max ZT  •  Marcus Gilmore  •  Marina Herlop  •  Marisa Anderson  •  Matt Wilson’s Good Trouble  •  Matthew Shipp  •  Mavis Staples  •  Maya Beiser & Evan Ziporyn: Bowie Cello Symphonic •  Meat Puppets  •  Melvins  •  Mexican Institute of Sound  •  Midori Takada  •  Min Xiao-Fen & Julian Kytasty  •  Mon Rovîa •  Moor Mother  •  Mount Eerie  •  Mouse on Mars  •  My New Band Believe  •  Nadia Sirota  •  Natalie Merchant with Erik Della Penna  •  Nathaniel Rateliff  •  Nduduzo Makhathini  •  Nels Cline  •  Nicole Mitchell and Joe Westerlund  •  Nirosta Steel  •  NOMON  •  Norah Jones  •  One Leg One Eye  •  Oneohtrix Point Never  •  Oruã  •  Otto Benson  •  Pachyman  •  Pamela Z  •  Parker Ramsay & Miranda Cuckson  •  Penguin Cafe  •  Petra Haden Sings King Crimson  •  Pranksters South  •  Ragamala returns! 12 Hours of Ragas  •  Ranky Tanky  •  Robert Glasper  •  Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal  •  Ryan Clackner Quartet  •  Ryan Clackner’s Existential Dread  •  Ryley Walker  •  Salami Rose Joe Louis  •  Sara Serpa  •  Shardik  •  Sheila Kay Adams + Nest of Singing Birds  •  Sierra Hull  •  Sleaford Mods  •  SML  •  Star Moles  •  Sumie Kaneko  •  Suzanne Ciani  •  Sylvan Esso  •  Sylvie Courvoisier TRIO feat. Drew Gress & Kenny Wollesen  •  This Is the Kit  •  Thundercat  •  Tim Bernardes  •  Tomeka Reid  •  Trio of Bloom (Nels Cline / Marcus Gilmore / Craig Taborn)  •  Tristan Perich  •  Tyondai Braxton  •  U.S. Girls  •  Ursula Oppens  •  Valentina Magaletti  •  Valerie June  •  Vanishing Twin  •  VariegOrchestra  •  Vieux Farka Touré & Roberto Fonseca  •  Vijay Iyer Residency  •  Visible Cloaks  •  Wednesday  •  Weyes Blood  •  Whitney Johnson, Lia Kohl, Macie Stewart  •  William Parker 75th Birthday Residency  •  The Womack Sisters  •  Wyatt Ellis  •  Yasuaki Shimizu  •  Yeah NO  •  Yilian Cañizares  •  Zig Zag Trio (Will Calhoun, Melvin Gibbs, Vernon Reid)