The Big Ears Festival lineup just got bigger, adding Grammy-winning Jon Batiste to the mix
After taking home five Grammy Awards in 2022, including for his score of the Pixar animated film "Soul," Jon Batiste will bring his New Orleans sound to Knoxville for next year's Big Ears Festival.
This news is part of the latest wave of Big Ears additions, which also includes Bonnie "Prince" Billy; Leyla McCalla and Medeski, Russo & Ribot.
The lineup is topped by Herbie Hancock, Rhiannon Giddens, Adrianne Lenker, Laurie Anderson and Sons of Chipotle, comprised of Anssi Karttunen and Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones.
The annual Big Ears Festival takes place March 21-24 across multiple downtown Knoxville venues. The festival has doubled its attendance since 2019, founder Ashley Capps told Knox News, and organizers will be using last year’s number as a barometer: 8,000 attendees per day.
“It’s never been an objective to be in continual growth mode,” Capps said. “This year, we’ve decided to really stay in that space. … It’s a great footprint, and we also want to take a moment to nurture that particular experience – that character of the festival.”
In addition to five Grammys that Batiste won, he was nominated for six more in 2022. Batiste also led Stay Human as the house band for "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" until last year and is the subject of the documentary "American Symphony" which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, has been acquired by Netflix.
The composer, bandleader and singer comes from a long line of New Orleans musicians, including Alvin Batiste, Lionel Batiste and Russell Batiste Jr., who died last month at the age of 57.
Big Ears Festival is no stranger to the New Orleans sound, having partially built its 2022 festival around the city's dynamic musical and cultural offerings.
"New Orleans is kind of the birthplace of American popular music in so many ways," Capps said at the time. "You can really trace the entire history of, certainly, American popular music to that very exciting musical gumbo that was New Orleans back in the early part of the century. And that tradition is very much alive."
Here is the full list of artist additions announced Oct. 10:
Jon Batiste
Medeski, Russo & Ribot
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
Evan Lurie Quintet
Leyla McCalla
Joe Russo's Selcouth Quartet
Kristin Hersh
Laraaji & Suphala
Min Xiao-Fen
Slauson Malone 1
Paul Lazar: Cage Shuffle
Ka Baird
Francesco Turrisi
Jana Horn
The 2024 festival will not have an outdoor venue, Capps said. In recent years, Southern Railway Station has hosted free performances, but the weather is just too hard to predict.
As a nonprofit, the festival is planning for other ways to bring Big Ears to the community.
Capps repeats the same message each year, and it still holds true: While Big Ears brings the world to Knoxville, the festival also showcases Knoxville to the world.
The 2022 event had a $36.1 million impact on the Knoxville economy, according to outside analysts, and attracted visitors from 47 states and 16 countries. More than 72% of people came from out of town in 2022 and on average spent more than four nights in the Knoxville area.
Weekend passes and other ticket options are on sale now.
Ryan Wilusz is a downtown growth and development reporter. Phone 865-317-5138. Email [email protected]. Instagram @knoxscruff.
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Jon Batiste joins lineup for Big Ears Festival 2024 in Knoxville
