© 2024 WUOT

WUOT
209 Communications Building
1345 Circle Park Drive
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, TN 37996-0322
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Big Ears 2017 Lineup Released: A Conversation With Ashley Capps

Well, it's that time of year again. The time that fans of avant garde music from all over the world anxiously await: the reveal of the lineup for Knoxville's Big Ears Festival. Rolling Stones magazine has called Big Ears "America's biggest avant garde party", while The New Yorker writes that: "The sounds are the stars, free of the tyranny of categories."  It's hard to describe this one-of-a-kind festival that celebrates innovation, creativity, and expression through music, film, and art. One thing's for sure, though; your ears will be awakened by the sounds born at this festival. 

As usual, Big Ears will take place in various venues throughout downtown Knoxville and this year it will be a four day affair, from March 23rd through 26th.

Ashley Capps, producer of the festival and founder of AC Entertainment, came to WUOT to talk with Morning Concert host, Melony Dodson, about this year's lineup, some changes to the festival, and about the enormous growth that both Big Ears and Knoxville itself has experienced over the past couple of years.

A complete lineup and more information about Big Ears can be found online at bigearsfestival.com
 

Melony calls the beautiful mountains of Boone, N.C., home, although she was born near Greensboro, N.C. There’s just something about those Blue Ridge Mountains that got in her blood and never left after she moved there to attend Appalachian State University (ASU). While at ASU, she majored in piano performance and music therapy and began to cultivate a love for accompanying and for collaborating with other musicians. This soon led her to earn a master’s degree in collaborative piano at the University of Tennessee, which she attended from 2006-2008.