I've joked that if a huge sinkhole swallowed up downtown Knoxville during the Big Ears Festival, we'd likely have to shut down The Tonearm. What would we do without so many of our favorite artists?

So it's no surprise that members of The Tonearm's team will be casually stalking the streets of Knoxville this weekend in search of extraordinary tunes and moments of musical euphoria. I have no doubt we'll have multiple declarations of success.

The line-up is jam-packed, and out of control, and no one can see (and hear) it all. Who does The Tonearm recommend? As mentioned, many of our favorite artists are participating, and a good number of those have appeared on our podcast and within our digital pages. Lucky us, lucky you.

Here's a list of the artists we've covered who are performing at Big Ears 2026, along with links to when and where you can catch them at the festival.

Bill Orcutt + Orcutt Shelley Miller

Orcutt Shelley Miller and the Great American Road Trip
Bill Orcutt, Steve Shelley, and Ethan Miller take turns behind the wheel on their debut collaboration, a live recording that captures the uncertainty and electricity of three musicians surprising themselves in real time.
The TonearmSteven Garnett

Brandon Seabrook

Frankenstein to Funk in Brandon Seabrook’s Genre-Defying ‘Object of Unknown Function’
Seabrook’s latest work showcases his evolution as a fearless innovator, layering multiple instruments and found sounds into a complex, visceral musical experience.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Brittany Davis

Speaking from the Soul — Brittany Davis on ‘Black Thunder’
How the Seattle-based poet and keyboardist found her true voice through improvisation, plus Pearl Jam’s Stone Gossard explains why Davis’s talent helped revive his independent label after twenty years.
The TonearmPeter Thomas Webb

Jeff Parker

Jeff Parker Revisits ‘The New Breed’ | The Tonearm
Ten years after ‘The New Breed’ merged his love of J Dilla with his background in jazz composition, the Tortoise guitarist discusses mentorship, the practical realities of a music career, and why he makes the records he wants to hear.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Josh Johnson

Josh Johnson Interview: Jazz, Electronics & ‘Unusual Object’
The acclaimed saxophonist discusses genre fluidity, Wayne Shorter’s wisdom, and why limitations can unlock creativity on his adventurous new album ‘Unusual Object.’
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Kramer

Don’t Fear the Reverb — A Conversation with Kramer
From producing Galaxie 500 and Low to his new ambient masterwork ‘...and the crimson moon whispers goodbye,’ the musician and Shimmy-Disc founder reflects on spontaneous composition, the spiritual dimensions of reverb, and finally achieving his personal ‘Rothko Chapel.’
The TonearmGeorge Grella

Mary Halvorson

Rolling Bones with Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson
Courvoisier and Halvorson unveil ‘Bone Bells,’ their acclaimed third album, and demonstrate how musical risk yields remarkable rewards. Eight new compositions showcase technical prowess while revealing a partnership where composed frameworks serve as springboards rather than constraints.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Nate Smith

Nate Smith Elevates His Drum Vision on ‘LIVE-ACTION’
The versatile percussionist opens up about his formative years under Betty Carter’s mentorship, his Grammy-winning work with Brittany Howard, and how creative constraints led to his most liberated album yet.
The TonearmDee Dee McNeil

Ned Rothenberg

Ned Rothenberg and the Indigenous Sound of Nowhere
The saxophonist and woodwind specialist discusses his first solo album in over a decade, ‘Looms & Legends,’ which alternates between pieces that create sonic fabrics through extended techniques and those that tell linear stories through melodic narrative.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Nels Cline

OK Bloomers — Nels Cline Finds His Happy Place
The prolific guitarist talks about ‘Trio of Bloom’ with Craig Taborn and Marcus Gilmore, maintaining experimental outlets alongside two decades in Wilco, and the productive anxiety of working with wizard-level musicians.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Patricia Brennan

Patricia Brennan’s Celestial Chamber Jazz
The vibraphonist’s ‘Of The Near And Far’ superimposes constellations over the circle of fifths to generate pitch collections for a ten-piece ensemble while signaling her background in orchestral percussion, alternative rock, and the chamber works of Glass and Xenakis.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer

Patrick Shiroishi

Patrick Shiroishi’s Sonic Combat Against Erasing the Past
After years of touring with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and SUMAC, Patrick Shiroishi unveils his two-suite composition ‘Forgetting is Violent,’ his saxophone tones carrying the weight of Japanese American internment camps and contemporary racist violence.
The TonearmChaz Underriner

Shrunken Elvis

Pedal to the Pastoral — Shrunken Elvis’s Nashville Dreams
British-born pedal steel player Spencer Cullum discusses his move to Music City, the organic formation of his ambient-adjacent trio Shrunken Elvis, and why staying true to his musical identity matters more than fitting the Nashville mold.
The TonearmSam Bradley

SML

Whose Sound Is Whose? The Collective Method of SML
The LA quintet’s second album, ‘How You Been’, unfolds through the distillation of live improvisations into moments where individual voices dissolve into collective sound.
The TonearmMariam Abdel-Razek

Winged Wheel

From Default to Deliberate: Winged Wheel’s ‘Desert So Green’
On their third album, ‘Desert So Green,’ the six-piece collective reflects on the slow build of musical trust, the discipline of leaving space, and what it means to stop defaulting and start deciding.
The TonearmJonah Evans

Zeena Parkins

Zeena Parkins, Under Constant Revision | The Tonearm
The experimental harpist discusses the hand-built electric instrument at the center of her practice, the spatial approach to composition she developed through decades of work with choreographers, and the grief behind ‘Lament for the Maker,’ her first solo record since Mills College closed.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer
Learn everything you need to know about Big Ears by going to bigearsfestival.org

Check out more like this:

Sara Serpa and Jen Shyu Rewrite Creative Music With M³
Five years into their Mutual Mentorship for Musicians project, experimental vocalists Serpa and Shyu discuss replacing traditional hierarchies with structures where support moves in multiple directions and every voice counts.
The TonearmLawrence Peryer
Sonic Sympathy: Horse Lords Meet Arnold Dreyblatt
Just intonation brought together two generations of experimental musicians for ‘Extended Field,’ an album that nimbly negotiates Horse Lords’ mathematical expansiveness and Arnold Dreyblatt’s tightly controlled harmonic universe.
The TonearmGeorge Grella