Maria Chavez (Live at Big Ears Festival)

Although turntablist Maria Chavez’s work is often performed in contemporary art museums and other rarefied locations, she herself doesn’t come from a place of abstraction or the aloofness that’s sometimes associated with such venues. On paper a deeply experimental artist, her work comes from a plac…

Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls)

Over a career spanning almost five full decades, Sir Richard Bishop has carved out a lasting legacy for himself as a singular, prolific voice. In the early 1980’s he founded Sun City Girls with his brother, Alan, and subsequently released 50 full length albums, 20 hour-long cassettes and 12 7” reco…

Tom Skinner (The Smile, Sons of Kemet) (Live at Big Ears 2026)

In his work with Sons of Kemet, and then in The Smile with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, and as a sought after jazz and session drummer, Tom Skinner is very much a known quantity in music circles in the UK and internationally. Also a solo artist, his newest album, Kaleidoscopic Visions, was relea…

Shahzad Ismaily (w/guest host Fred Frith) (Live at Big Ears 2026)

To try to list all the projects, both solo and group, that Shahzad Ismaily has been a part of would take much more time than we have available, even in this notoriously long-winded medium. Instead, it might be better to offer a small sampling of those with whom he’s collaborated (Sam Smith, Mike Do…

Kramer (Big Ears Festival performer)

For most of his career, Bonner Kramer has been known in underground music circles by only his surname, as his imprint has been deep and wide enough that only that sobriquet has been necessary. Starting in New York City in the late 70’s and into the 80’s, he was a member of several seminal bands of …

Mary Lattimore (Big Ears Festival performer)

A harpist since childhood–as well as the daughter of one–Mary Lattimore’s choice of instrument reveals the simple beauty it contains, transcending the stereotype of it being strictly for use in classical music or as flourishes in movie soundtracks. Her ability to cut straight to the heart in her co…

Joe Boyd (Big Ears Festival participant)

Listing Joe Boyd’s most significant accomplishments as a producer, label owner, and music historian is a tall order. A short list of artists he’s worked with includes Nick Drake (heard here), Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, Richard Thompson, The Incredible String Band, R.E.M., Vashti …

Tara Clerkin Trio (Big Ears Festival performer)

Bristol, UK’s Tara Clerkin Trio first came to our attention last year when they received an invitation from the Big Ears Festival to play its 2025 edition, and, upon listening to their 2023 EP On the Turning Ground as a means of introduction, we were immediately smitten. Members Tara Clerkin, Pat B…

The Beths

While to the casual observer it might seem as if New Zealand’s The Beths appeared seemingly out of nowhere in or around the summer of 2023, they’ve in fact been making their extremely catchy brand of indie pop for almost ten years now. The Auckland-based quartet’s most recent album, Straight Line i…

Lucrecia Dalt (Big Ears Festival Performer)

Colombia-born singer and musician Lucrecia Dalt began her musical career seemingly suddenly, at least when observed from a distance as a simple biographical factoid: as a civil engineer, she worked in a geotechnical company until giving it up to become a musician. While the exact details of that si…