Friday was a good day to be in Knoxville. The weather was perfect, the Vols advanced to the Elite 8 in the NCAA Tournament and Big Ears showed its diversity with shows from legends and newcomers alike. Here are a few of our favorites from day two of the 2025 Big Ears Festival.
“Jimi Hendrix”
This rockumentary, directed and produced by the trio of Joe Boyd, John Head and Gary Weis, was made shortly after the guitar icon’s death in 1970. The film interviews family, childhood friends and many contemporaries who explain the legend of Hendrix from his humble beginnings in the Seattle area to his move to New York City and his later move to the U.K., where he ultimately found fame. Legends who speak of Hendrix’s awe-inspiring talent include Pete Townsend, Eric Clapton, Little Richard and Mick Jagger, to name just a few. Highlights of the doc include blistering concert performances from Monterey Pop, Woodstock and Isle of Wight, of course, which was a real treat to see and hear on the big screen of the Riviera. Many documentaries and films have been made about Jimi Hendrix over the years, but I maintain that this first one is the best. – John Flannagan
Adam Rupolph: Hu Vibrations
Sometimes it’s good to start a Big Ears day with something soothing. Adam Rudolph: Hu Vibrational fit the bill. A 7-piece act with grounded with sitar, tabla, keyboards and all manner of percussion and oddball instrumentation, the Hu Vibrational was, indeed, all about the vibe. It was gentle and meditative, but still exotic and creative, with just enough tension and dynamics to keep it interesting. It was a great way to start a musical day. – Wayne Bledsoe
Virtuoso guitarist Nils Cline has been a big part of Big Ears over the years, appearing here with multiple bands and collaborations, including Wilco and Cup. Every show he has ever played was different and each challenging in its own way. His performance Friday with his new group the Nils Cline Singers was no different. The band is simply incredible, with Scott Amendola (Charlie Hunter) and Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) providing an incredibly fluid rhythm section. Noise saxophonist Skerik matches Cline’s guitar blow for blow, but the unexpected star is percussionist Cyro Baptista, who played everything from a sheet of aluminum to a waterbowl to chains on a 32-inch bass drum. The band specializes in skronk-sounding power. During the loud parts they sounded like the dissonant parts of Wilco (think “Via Chicago”) with the melody stripped away. The show was a tour de force of musicianship and improvisation and the highlight of the festival so far for me. – Bill Foster
Cassandra Jenkins
“I’ve been waiting to be here for many, many years,” Jenkins said at one point mid-set, going on to describe her gratitude for finally being able to partake in a Big Ears. Having had to cancel her 2022 appearance due to an acute case of COVID – an ordeal that she acknowledged was chronicled on “Aurora, IL,” one of the beautifully rendered tracks performed Friday – the New York City-based artist clearly was intent on making up for lost time. Though loose and conversational between songs, Jenkins and her band were laser-focused on the music. A four-piece that expanded to a quintet whenever woodwind accompaniment was required, the group adeptly vacillated between dreamy soundscapes and more conventional rockers, the successful soft-loud dynamic indicative of Jenkins’ proclivity for sonic experimentation and embrace of multiple styles.
There is something to be said, too, about the host venue and its influence upon the proceedings. The building’s warm acoustics accommodated the fluctuation in tones, and the immediacy between artist and audience feels more pronounced here than in other similar rooms. With sunlight filtering through the stained-glass windows of the nave and illuminating the congregants within, the Point provided a comfortable refuge for the second day’s attendees. Though every track was resonant, “Ambiguous Norway” was ideally suited for the environs and was especially captivating. – Matt Rankin
Jeff Parker ETA IVtet
This group played a mesmerizing set of its longform pieces before a packed house at the Bijou on Friday afternoon. The performance was a journey that flowed effortlessly from complex time signatures into groove-oriented improvisations. The quartet includes saxophonist Josh Johnson, drummer Jay Bellerose and Anna Butterss on upright bass. Together, they delivered a beautiful ambient set that blended many elements of jazz music. Parker is no stranger to Big Ears and gave yet another memorable performance to kick off my second day of the festival. – JF
more eaze
You could be forgiven for leaving the performance by this trio led by composer Mari Maurice during the first 10 minutes. At first, it seemed that this was going to be another act based on slowly evolving droney sounds made by two violins and electric guitar – not unpleasant, but nothing too special at a festival like Big Ears. Then Maurice switched to steel guitar and began adding pretty high-pitched vocals and creating digital loops and building it all into something dramatic and powerful. Like a good story, it took a while to settle you in and get to know the characters before it really got to the meat of it. This was only the first time during Friday that made you feel like you’d discovered something special that you had known nothing about but that you’d definitely want to hear again. – WB
What For? (Pilot Light mini festival)
I managed to stop by the Pilot Light to catch Andrew Swafford’s beautiful ambient electronic set Friday afternoon. Swafford layers electric guitar over soothing background sounds, creating an encompassing calming effect. A local artist who released his fourth album “Harvest Moons” in 2024, Swafford really seems to be perfecting his sound and coming into his own. What For? commences its final day on Saturday with over 12 hours of performances from local artists on deck. – JF
Dedicated Men of Zion
These days, and especially at Big Ears, a classic Black gospel quartet featuring members wearing matching suits and rocking out with ecclesiastical passion is more exotic than a 10-piece group of furries making dance music out of crystals and kitchen utensils. (And if that doesn’t exist, I’m sure it will soon.) This Greenville, North Carolina, group brought the fire and kept it burning for its entire set. The case has long been made that Black gospel quartets from the 1930s-’50s were the true inspiration for rock ‘n’ roll given gospel’s powerful rhythm and passionate delivery. You’d get no argument after watching these guys and their terrific band. The one problem, which seemed to be a regular thing this year, was maybe the acoustics in this particular hall were not the right fit for this group. The sound of acts with high volume tends to turn into aural mud with rooms that are mostly brick and glass. Sadly, the only way to hear how great the music was was to stand outside the hall. – WB
Alabaster DePlume
One of the more difficult shows to try to describe because it offered up a little bit of everything, from spoken-word passages to gripping free-jazz freakouts, without ever sacrificing continuity or focus, this Mancunian’s set at the Mill & Mine was an evocative and effective piece of performance art. At times irreverent, other times sincere and consistently profane, Angus Fairbairn aka DePlume coaxed wondrous notes from his sax and led the assembled players on exploratory yet deliberate and often melodic jaunts throughout what was an unexpectedly moving, enjoyable and richly rewarding experience despite the demanding subject matter. – MR
Bia Ferreira
Ferreira’s performance at The Standard on Friday afternoon was a breath of fresh air, as she was perhaps the happiest performer that I have ever encountered in all my Big Ears experiences. The Brazilian singer-songwriter, armed with only an acoustic guitar and an infectious smile, proclaimed the need to “raise the flag of love” early in her set as she championed LGBTQ+ rights and explained the challenges of such rights in Brazil. All of her songs were sung in her native Portuguese language, but she spoke to the audience in English between songs, always flashing that smile. Often, artists will feed off the energy of the crowd, but Ferreira provided all the energy that was needed and received love back in the form of more grins than I could count on the faces of audience members. – JF
Jessica Pratt
As occasionally happens at Big Ears, you stumble across something that seems warm and familiar. Jessica Pratt is sort of a throwback to folk singers of the 1960s and ’70s. Mostly acoustic guitar-based (here with a little keyboard, electronics and saxophone), Pratt seemed to take as much inspiration from Astrud Gilberto as Joni Mitchell. It didn’t break any boundaries or shake you up, but it was relaxing and easy to like. It would have been better had the mix allowed listeners to better hear Pratt’s lyrics, but that’s a small complaint for a pleasant performance. – WB
Tarta Relena
It is inevitable that at every Big Ears you will stumble on something that you’d never heard of, wasn’t planning on seeing and attended only because it fit between two things (location- and time-wise) that you had planned to see that completely blows you away. That was, for me on Friday, Catalonian vocal duo Tarta Relena. Blending folk with modern electronics, nature sounds and all manner of fun experimentalism, these two women created sounds that were intensely beautiful and moving. No matter that you didn’t understand the language (a sound somewhere between Spanish, Italian and Portuguese), the feel was all you needed.
Vocalists Marta Torrella and Helena Ros created harmonies that were ethereal, sometimes sounding like religious music, sometimes sounding like bird songs and, at one point, recording themselves speaking backwards and then playing their recorded voices forward to deliver the message. The two sang over some prerecorded sounds but also accompanied themselves with some live electronics and percussion and created loops in the moment. In this case, the venue was perfect for showcasing all the sounds that were being created. This is the sort of performance you tell friends who were there about for weeks after. It’s a life lesson: Take a chance on something new and unfamiliar and sometimes the rewards are exponential. – WB
Anohni and the Johnsons
While passion and politics are sometimes absent at a music festival, Anohni brought it in spades. Anohni, who was a headlining performer at the first Big Ears Festival, is blessed with a beautiful voice that, like Little Jimmy Scott before her, finds its comfortable place somewhere between identifiable genders. With powerful messages about the state of the environment, the attempted re-institution of anti-gay and trans policies and the embrace of hatred and discrimination in government overall, Anohni poured out her heart for this performance.
Backed by a six-piece band all dressed in white suits, Anohni sang originals and mixed in the folk standard “Motherless Child” along with two Lou Reed covers (the surprising “Coney Island Baby” and The Velvet Underground’s “I’m Set Free”). As a vocalist, Anohni is a master gliding between a delivery that is so delicate and fragile that it seems at times that it will break and then sliding into something gutsy and powerful. It was moving. It was emotional. It connected. At moments, the audience and the performer seemed a little at odds at what was being conveyed. The audience gave approving laughs and applause when Anohni spoke about topics, but none of it was a joke. She was simply being direct and open. We joke and laugh to deflect the pain and ludicrousness of what is going on, but Anohni was having none of it, and her seriousness was actually refreshing.
Overall, you could not have asked for a better or more moving performance. – WB
Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz
Les Claypool’s serial band-creation fetish continues with his newest creation, Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz. With an unusual lineup of percussion, drums, sax and bass, the band features outstanding percussionist Mike Dillon, Galactic drummer Stanton Moore, and saxophonist Skerik, on loan from Claypool’s Frog Brigade. The band plays a mix of jam and funk, heavy on improvisation. The band was a little hard to see under dim, blue lighting, but they were electric to hear, and the midnight shows at the Mill & Mine remain some of the most exciting moments of Big Ears. – BF
