Over-use of the word “community” can quickly turn the most open-hearted music lover into a cynic, especially those wary of corporate appropriation at every turn. Yet it’s hard to describe the people who attend the annual Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN as anything but a community.
Big Ears attendees can’t wait to tell you about the greatest musical experience they had earlier that day while waiting in line for another potential greatest musical experience. We’re all excited to share tips, advice, and stories to anyone who needs it. Additionally, repeat visits to the festival means running into the same people year after year and becoming fast friends. Case in point, since I returned from this year’s Big Ears, I’ve been avidly texting with Zack, who I met while standing in line only four days ago. New music nerd best friend! Another friend named Robin, who I met last year, said that a non-music friend refers to Big Ears as her “spiritual retreat conference.” A little embarrassing, but I wouldn’t argue with that designation.
Yep, it’s a community of music obsessives, willing to surrender time with loved ones and work obligations, all for the sake of the opportunity to find that next favorite artist or band.
Before getting into the individual performance reports, here are a few stray observations from throughout the weekend:
- Walking out of the Tennessee Theatre, I saw David Byrne walking in and I quickly said, “Hi David Byrne” and he responded with a jolly, “Hello!”
- Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions podcast did a livestream this weekend in Knoxville, sort of a Big Ears version of Good Morning America. All kinds of guests dropped in during the broadcasts, including Thurston Moore, William Tyler, and me! Check it out here. I’m an AD contributor, so it was a thrill to finally meet Jason P. Woodbury, Tyler Wilcox, Andrew Horton, and Chad DePasquale in person and geek it out in Knoxville together.
- Sitting in close quarters listening to jazz, I was next to a man who seemed to be in his late sixties doing the normal machinations one does on one’s phone. I wasn’t sure if he was listening but after a particular audacious run by the piano player, the guy snorted in both incredulity and approval. No-look jazz snobbery!
- One night, a train was stopped on the tracks, blocking the key corridor connecting The Greyhound/Mill & Mine cluster with the Boyd’s/Barley grouping. No one wanted to wait, but then again, the train could’ve moved and crushed us at any time. I climbed under a tanker and scooted through as quickly as I possibly could. Don’t recommend.
- I ran into the guy who made the recording of SML at last year’s Big Ears that I described as “so good that you can hear the sound of my tiny brain oozing out of my head during the fourth piece.” When I realized that he was the source, I gave him a big hug.
- I thought I saw Stephen Malkmus at one point but it was another post-irony guy wearing sports-related gear at an experimental music festival.
- Big Ears does take a physical toll. My friend Bryan said at one point, “I need a vacation day in the middle of Big Ears.” Similarly, I asked my friend Chris what was the best thing that he did on Saturday, he replied, “I took a nap in the park.”
The following are a selection of my musical adventures at 2026 Big Ears. It doesn’t reflect everything that I encountered along the way or else this already lengthy report would be double in length. The videos aren’t great, but they provides a taste of the music.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Ches Smith’s Clone Row
The Standard
What better first musical performance at 2026 Big Ears than a percussion-forward instrumental band who blurs the lines between genres and makes the listener question why genres are needed when describing a pure musical expression anyway? Percussionist Ches Smith leads this combo, but the band’s allure lies in the guitar interactions of Liberty Ellman and Mary Halvorson as they always seemed to be performing a dance. Halvorson’s playing in particular is affecting as her stylings evoked air raid sirens, video games effects, birds in flight, while sometimes utilizing her unique slipping, dissolving technique during solos. Smith’s showcases on the vibes pushed the band into metallic rhythms throughout, particularly the final song on their set, which increased in velocity to such an extent that it wouldn’t be surprising if smoke began issuing from the stage.
David Byrne
Knoxville Civic Auditorium
This year’s festival included separately ticketed events for David Byrne and Robert Plant. Seeing either of these musical giants was not part of the calculus in creating my Big Ears plan of action, but when the media team presented me with a ticket for Byrne, who am I to pass it up? I’m not made of stone! Especially since the only live Byrne I’ve seen was on film. Everything about the presentation of this show was exquisite from the song arrangements to the blocking to the costuming to the sound design to the video display. It’s obvious that Byrne and his team continue to push themselves in questioning new ways to do this music concert thing. As a result, the Knoxville Civic Auditorium was never used better as Byrne and his team moved through cuts from last year’s Who Is The Sky? as well as selections from Talking Heads and his solo work. Memorable moments included the absolutely gorgeous “Heaven”, which featured two violins swooping around each other, the gospel-tinged coming together of “Strange Overtones,” and the videos accompanying “Life During Wartime,” especially the bicyclist who scooted away from ICE, eliciting overwhelming cheers from the Knoxville crowd. What a presentation; what a performance; what a demonstration of artistic vision and execution. As a representation of his entire creative team, David Byrne is unimpeachable.
Medeski, Martin, Metzger & Cline
Mill & Mine
This combo — made up of John Medeski (keyboards), Billy Martin (percussion), Scott Metzger (guitar), and Nels Cline (guitar) — has never put out an official release and is rarely seen outside the confines of the greater New York City area. Martin described their Big Ears set as “all new material that we never talked about before tonight.” Pinpointing highlights is an exercise in sharing abstract descriptions: slinky funk, loud swathes of sound from Cline, a somber minor key English ballad, Crazy Horse-ish searing guitars, early ‘60’s space age jazz, satanic haunted house music, pastoral Japanese folk song, a seance in which everybody knows the voices aren’t real but it’s still fun to scare each other, ecstatic exultations, and the thickest, gooiest devil blues. Somebody needs to get this band into the studio pronto!
Friday, March 27, 2026
Anna Butters & Ben Lumsdaine
International Anthem’s Chrysanthemum Tea
Boyd’s Jig and Reel
The hottest record label of the moment — International Anthem— hosted a tea party on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday mornings. What did it consist of? A helping of chrysanthemum tea, records to purchase, and more music, of course! And who were they able to get to play from their talented roster? Extraordinary bassist Anna Butterss and their compatriot percussionist Ben Lumsdaine, who have been working together since they were 19 years old. Their first piece began with both using bows: Butters on upright bass and Lumsdaine on the cymbals, accompanied by taps on the snares. This evolved from expansive ambient explorations into a smooth groove marked by a smile from Butterss (note: that’s their tell; when Butterss smiles, every part of the music is in its right place). The second piece began a series of sweet, bouncy melodies from Butters uplifted by Lumsdaine on synths before he kicked in with the drums to create a smoking hot groove. After several minutes, the pair decelerated again to a no-less-intense slower rhythm before dissipating into the dust of solar flares from Lumsdaine. All hail our new International Anthem overlords!
Tomas Fujiwara: Dream Up
The Greyhound
The festival organizers unveiled a new performance space this year: The Greyhound, Knoxville’s old bus station. Though all of the normal bus station fixtures such as benches and kiosks had been cleared away, some of the station signage on the walls remained. Frankly, everything about the place still felt a little grimy. As one patron said, “This place has seen some shit.” For the festival, the stage was set up in the middle of the room so that performances were presented in the round, smoke machines billowed out its product while looped anime-esque images were projected onto the upper part of the walls. Everything contributed to a captivating environment for experimental music.
Percussionist Tomas Fujiwara took the stage at The Greyhound…surrounded by other drummers! Fujiwara held everything down on a standard set, Ches Smith dazzled on vibes, Kaoru Watanabe alternated between pounding powerfully on large drums and Japanese flute while jack-of-all-hands Tim Keiper hit on a variety of objects which turned out to be drums. This combination offered up many highlights including Smith playing a styrofoam cup with a bow. The performance concluded with the silky “You Don’t Have to Try” off of Fujiwara’s Dream Up, filling up the space with a celestial atmosphere.
Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes
First Presbyterian Sanctuary
Saxophonist Josh Johnson was everywhere at 2026 Big Ears, performing with a wide range of acts as well as curating a series of performances. While standing in line to see his collaboration with SML cohort member Gregory Uhlmann alongside bassist Sam Wilkes, I met Josh’s parents, Peggy and Ray Johnson. What a treat to see the gracious and lovely Johnsons, who are so proud of their son, supporting his starring turn at the festival. The music of Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes was serene, contemplative music presented within the lovely holy environment of the First Presbyterian Sanctuary. Wilkes provided a foundation for the two SML compatriots to generate layer upon layer of shimmering sounds and melodies. Sometimes, the music could be mistaken for newly sentient robots learning how to have a conversation while also light and billowy as if it could float away like a kite in a Hayao Miyazaki film.
BASIC
Barley’s
BASIC started off hot, prepared to lay waste to all comers. Powered by Chris Forsyth on guitar, Douglas McCombs on bass VI, and percussionist Mikel Patrick Avery, the instrumental trio presented an array of snarling grooves, sinister guitar lines, and swirling sounds. There were times during BASIC’s show that I wanted to hear the band perform the entirety of Wang Chung’s To Live and Die in LA soundtrack or that the studio would recut the movie in order to swap in BASIC’s original material as the score. About halfway through the performance, Forsyth welcomed Philadelphia bassist John Moran to the stage so that BASIC could perform tracks from their upcoming release planned for June 2026. These selections expanded on BASIC’s basic template for a more expansive, horizontal sound all while McCombs’ bass VI and Moran’s upright bass played off of each other. Returning to the trio format, McCombs performed an extended noisy intro to “Dream City,” adding a touch of his band Brokeback’s signature sweeping lonesome plains sound. The final song saw Forsyth’s churning rhythm/lead guitar take over to build to a crazed, frenetic, the whitest-of-white-noise ending. BASIC ripped.
Jeff Parker Expansion Trio
Mill & Mine
Jeff Parker made his name as part of the influential instrumental band Tortoise, but over the last decade or so, his impact has gained in profile as a result of his exploratory New Breed albums and as chief hypnotist of the Jeff Parker IVtet. Parker has led the way for the rise of the neo-jazz/funk/groove scene, chiefly associated with International Anthem. For 2026 Big Ears, he brought along a relatively new group made up of drummer Ben Lumsdaine and SML’s modular synthesizer sorcerer Jeremiah Chiu. It was apparent that Parker, Lumsdaine, and Chiu don’t have a large body of work to draw from, so the material presented was mostly “feeling our way through it” improvisation as they calmly and steadily added components to the group sound. Each piece started with a simple riff by Parker and adding elements before arriving at a satisfying composite. The trio was at their best when going into double-time rhythms and showing off their ultra-tight connectedness. Let’s hope there’s an official release from this crew in the future.
Rob Mazurek – The Radical Chimera Sessions
UT Downtown Gallery
As part of the festival, the Downtown Gallery presented Radical Chimeras: A Multidisciplinary Exhibition by Rob Mazurek, which featured paintings, sound-generated animations, sound prints, and sculpture. Throughout the weekend, futuristic jazz trumpeter Mazurek performed a series of shows surrounded by his own art and accompanied by many of the members of the Philadelphia-based jazz band Bark Culture. These players also contributed to Mazurek’s dazzling score for Kelly Reichardt’s 2025 anti-hero heist film The Mastermind. The musicians set up in the middle of the gallery in between silky scrims hanging from the ceiling. Mazurek’s video work was projected onto these scrims, and he often directed his trumpet above his head to play to the moving images, allowing the music to reverberate between the scrims. Chanting was also a part of the performance as Mazurek rotated to sing towards each audience member while looking at them dead in the eye. One funny moment came when Mazurek played his trumpet so hard that the mute came out, flying across the space, and landing at someone’s feet. Continuing to play, Mazurek simply made a finger gesture to say, “Give that back to me.” The music was tension-filled, electric, and ceaseless. This was the most psychedelic experience I had at Big Ears.
SML
The Greyhound
As described in my festival preview, this was my most anticipated performance of the entire weekend after SML’s mind-altering set at 2025 Big Ears. Word circulated that the first night’s set had been spectacular, so anticipation was teeming before the show. As the band set up and prepared to begin, it was clear that each knew this was a big gig. This didn’t manifest in nerves, instead they conveyed a steely resolve: “We’re going to blow these people’s minds.” Reader, I can assure you that they did. Each of the improvised pieces was rhythmically dynamic and taut, bristling with a quicksilver intensity. Everyone contributed to the overall group sound: Josh Johnson and Gregory Uhlmann generating textures, Booker Stardrum and Anna Butterss driving the rocket ship, and Jeremiah Chiu processing and remixing the maelstrom in real time. The music was imbued with a range of feelings: sexiness, tension, savagery, fear, sadness, violence, and defiance.
After SML performed their set, they took a break before returning with an SML XL set, which included unannounced special guests. During the set break, crowd members tried to reckon with the performance. I asked a few people why we weren’t following them on tour since each set is fully improvised. At one point, I declared, “I spend $7 a month on Peacock so that we can watch reruns of Parks & Recreation on demand. I would easily spend that much for an app that gives me access to SML’s live performances.”
The XL set featured Chicago-based jazz trumpeter Marquis Hill as well as now old-friend Ben Lumsdaine on a second drumset. The music was looser in some ways from the first set as SML worked hard to ensure that the guests were welcomed. Hill provided a series of single note blasts and mournful calls while it was thrilling to see Lumsdaine, Stardrum, and Butters work as a rhythmic-aligned limited liability corporation. After the show’s riotous conclusion and a rousing ovation from the crowd, a friend asked if I would be seeing SML for the third night, I replied, “I kinda have to now!”
Dirty Three
Tennessee Theatre
Another tremendously anticipated show as nearly every patron mentioned how much they were looking forward to seeing the Australian trio. From the opening, everything about the Dirty Three was bombastic from Jim White’s thunder and lightning drumming to Mick Turner’s guitar sounding more monumental than ever. And Warren Ellis? Everything about Warren Ellis was over the top late on Friday night: his sunglasses, his suit, his playing, his stories, his gestures to and interactions with the crowd. I have to come clean here. Despite Dirty Three being one of my favorite bands, at that point in the night, I didn’t want grandiosity while sitting down in the plush chairs of the Tennessee Theatre. I left. I extend my regrets to the band members and all of their families.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer
International Anthem’s Chrysanthemum Tea
Boyd’s Jig and Reel
The second morning of tea and music spotlighted a short presentation by Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer, whose most recent release is 2025’s Different Rooms. Honer’s exquisite viola and Chiu’s imaginative synth work is an inspired pairing as their tea-serving music was deeply-felt and sublime. Especially impressive were the moments when Honer would pluck her strings, which Chiu immediately sampled, processed, and subsequently saturated throughout the space while Honer resumed playing resonating viola bowing.
Bill Orcutt
Regas Square
Bill Orcutt began his performance with a big, wide open, yet gentle American sound. This simple riff, delivered deliberately slow, conveyed a sense of a country that — despite seemingly all evidence to the contrary — still contains promise and possibility and is welcoming to all. I wrote “Orcutt is like a 21st century Aaron Copeland” in my notes. My fellow Aquarium Drunkard contributor Tyler Wilcox made the exact same comparison during our Sunday morning livestream. From those American sounds, Orcutt traveled on to those quintessential Orcuttian jagged lines and fluttery clusters of notes like spraying sparks from a live power line. Much of the music was filled with discovery as Orcutt couldn’t wait to work through each idea. Strangely, his playing brought to mind several classic rock guitar players: Neil Young’s tone, Jimmy Page’s ability to turn anything into the best guitar riff ever, and Jimi Hendrix’s dexterity and creativity. Orcutt deserves to be in the same sentence as those giants. Witnessing Orcutt live for the first time was emotionally overwhelming since I’ve exclusively listened to his music by myself on headphones in the dark or walking outside, so the opportunity to be in the same room as he played made me well up with tears.
Mary Halvorson: Canis Major
Tennessee Theatre
Mary Halvorson’s new combo, which includes bassist Henry Fraser, trumpeter Dave Adewumi, and longtime Halvorson comrade Tomas Fujiwara on drums, provided a fresh platform for her complex compositions as well as facilitating Halvorson to do Halvorson guitar things. Intricate solos and moves whizzed by in rapid succession. One particular adventurous and witty run by Halvorson evoked laughter — perhaps in disbelief — by an audience member. She and Adewumi proved to be a good pairing, pushing each other to go further. Sometimes it seemed as if Halvorson was peering at her sheet music while playing a solo. What do the score instructions say, “Rip shit up now”? Though not as immediately arresting as her work with Ches Smith, Halvorson’s skill and vision are always a sight to behold.
Marc Ribot & Ned Rothenberg
RED Gallery
A secret show! And one with guitarist Marc Ribot, to boot! Ribot teamed up with clarinetist Ned Rothenberg for a series of improvisations in a packed gallery displaying the work of mixed media artist Andy Saftel. Saftel introduced the performance by sharing how he is a longtime Knoxville resident who has never missed Big Ears. Also, Rothenberg is his cousin and Saftel explained the further familial connections within the artwork on display. The music was noodle-y at first, but then moved into what sounded like intriguing bluesy, off-kilter klezmer music. This music was fitting for Saftel’s whimsical, yet imaginative work.
Marquis Hill Blacktet
The Point
After joining SML the night before, Marquis Hill presented a performance of his Blacktet, which features SML’s Josh Johnson on trumpet. The rest of the lineup was stellar as well with insistent drumming by Jonathan Pinson, Emmanuel Michel providing Afrofuturist-esque guitar, and Junius Paul’s alluring, dexterous playing on upright bass. When the band was in neo-soul jazz mode, Hill’s soaring solos appropriately reached to the ceiling of The Point’s sanctuary. The Blacktet also demonstrated an ability to play classic hard bop at high velocity with Hill seeming to say, “Jump in the car everyone and let’s see what this thing can do!” Pianist Gerald Clayton joined the band as well, only adding to the virtuosic talents on display. It was fascinating to see Johnson’s approach within this context since, with SML and the ETA IVtet, he utilizes an array of other-worldly effects, but with Hill he relied on a pure, traditional saxophone sound.
Jeff Parker
PostModern Sound Exchange
The four sweetest words in the English language: “Jeff Parker secret show.” For this surprise appearance, Parker played solo, presenting improvisations as well as a few compositions from his 2021 Forfolks album. Parker created sound washes, sampled chord progressions, and used those components as a base to solo over. At one point, he cross-faded samples to begin a new piece, further demonstrating his Jedi Master skills. As he did during his Forfolks solo tour from a few years before, Parker performed an arrangement of Frank Ocean’s “Super Rich Kids,” complete with interlocking guitar parts and street noise recordings as an ambient backdrop. With this cover and each of the pieces, Parker demonstrated a patient, calm determination to get everything to his satisfaction.
Patricia Brennan Septet
Jackson Terminal
Coming off of the dazzling 2025 album Of The Near And Far, vibraphonist Patricia Brennan had one of the most exhilarating sets at 2026 Big Ears. Her Latin jazz numbers made everyone in the room immediately begin dancing, fueled by an expert team of collaborators which featured Marcus Gilmore on drums and the young, visionary trumpet player Adam O’Farrill. The band was extremely disciplined and well-rehearsed, executing complex horn lines and melodies throughout the performance. Each member of the band took solo showcases, but it was Brennan who stupefied the unprepared with her adventurous, poignant, and absolutely gorgeous playing. If Brennan isn’t on your radar, you better put your radar operator on an extended furlough.
Winged Wheel
Barley’s
During the Aquarium Drunkard Transmissions livestream, band member Fred Thomas laid out the evolution of Winged Wheel from their beginning as a pandemic-era remote project to jam-in-the-studio-and-let’s-see-what-we-can-cull editing project to wrangling none other than former Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelly into the project to a real, live working band who tours. The final part of that progression was evident at Big Ears as Winged Wheel produced a series of extended, horizontal kraut rock jams. Whitney Johnson’s haunting vocals permeated the full band sound leaving a trail of mysteries behind. What does My Bloody Valentine sound like when covering Neil Young? The answer is Winged Wheel.
SML
The Greyhound
Yep, I came back! Looking around before the final performance began, I could spot many repeat audience members from the night before; other true SML believers who tasted the pure and were back for more. SML’s night three started at breakneck speed, moving immediately into an overwhelming, disco-y rave. At one point, I turned and saw my friend Michael who I didn’t know would be there and I punched him in the chest in my excitement. He bears no scars or ill will since he probably would’ve punched me too. After that magnetic opening, it seemed as though SML didn’t know where to go from there, so downshifted into a liquid-y groove which evolved into a thick, gooey bounce dub space. From there, Chiu introduced a rapid-fire series of obnoxious funk gestures, causing laughter from the audience. With that starting place, SML took off into a nasty Parliament / Dr. Dre groove, culminating in a two-man jam between Stardrum and Chiu. Trying not to overdose on SML, I didn’t stay for the XL set, but the featured guests were BASIC’s Mikel Patrick Avery and, of course, Jeff Parker. By all accounts, it was another fantastic set. Pack up the kids and ingredients for making grilled cheese, it looks like we’ll be traveling the world with SML for their next tour.
Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band
Barley’s
What’s the best way to end a Saturday night? The answer: a shit-kicking country rock bar band in a bar! Ryan Davis and his appropriately named Roadhouse Band certainly fit the bill with Davis introducing their set by saying, “Thanks for waking up early for the first show on Sunday.” But those in the know understood that this would be more than any regular “heartland rock” act as Davis is a master of turns of phrase, witty juxtapositions, and visionary imagery. Newcomers to his writing could be seen laughing in amazement at many of his lyrical gems. The harmonizing vocals of Lou Turner of Styrofoam Winos effectively emphasized Davis’s songwriting. In addition to the country rock thing, the Roadhouse Band showed they have the capacity for even more, including Sonic Youth’s noise freakouts, sexy slow jams, jazzbo chord complexity, and other pervading instrumental weirdness. At the end of the day, it was all about Davis, an incredible showman, who possesses the ability to attract and hold everyone in the bar with his words and his delivery. How about we do this every Saturday night?
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Chicago Underground Duo
The Standard
Drummer Chad Taylor and trumpeter Rob Mazurek’s 2025 release Hyperglyph was a jolt to the system, reminding everyone in this current quasi-jazz/funk/hip hop/post rock world that Chicago Underground Duo has been doing this for a long time and can still execute that blueprint as good as, if not better, than anyone. Taylor’s powerhouse, in-the-pocket drumming commenced immediately with Mazurek varying between playing into three different microphones to produce an array of effects and shadings. Often, Mazurek didn’t even need a mic as his trumpet fanfares could be heard as far as the back wall. The duo played over various samples, whose frenetic, fractured sounds recalled Autechre. One stretch saw Taylor move to the fluttering sound of the mbira over which Mazurek played a gentle and beautiful melody. This held the audience as much as the high-octane rallying cries in the rest of the set. We need these two to issue Chicago Underground Duo albums on an annual basis.
Gregory Uhlmann Extra Stars
Jackson Terminal
Gregory Uhlmann’s solo turn at Big Ears was an opportunity to learn more about his individual artistic expression. Often, it’s hard to discern his contributions within the mosaic of SML or even the extreme lightness of touch of Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes. Alongside SML partner Booker Stardrum on drums and Will Miller of Resavoir, Ulhmann mostly stayed on the ethereal textures side of the guitar spectrum on Sunday afternoon. In this mode, his playing is far from traditional, adhering closer to water dripping in an alluring pattern. But as the performance continued, his playing became more pronounced, certainly true when inside Afropop and “Soundtrack by John Lurie” territory. But Uhlmann came alive when focused on melodies, betraying a style similar to Douglas McCombs, Ry Cooder, and some phrasing that even recalled Jerry Garcia. Those were the best moments of this performance.
Lou Reed Drones
The Greyhound
This installation featured seven guitars from Lou Reed’s collection, each plugged in and leaning up against their own amplifier to generate feedback as mapped out by Reed’s longtime guitar tech Stewart Hurwood. Walking up to The Greyhound, my friend Wes pointed out, “I think we can hear the drone from out here.” Upon entering, the cumulative effect of the drones was overwhelming, ripping through the old bus station like an unrelenting wind. Wearing an extremely boss Transformer cover art t-shirt, Hurwood walked around the guitars and periodically adjusted knobs. Wes left immediately since he thought he was going to be sick, but not before putting my hand on the coffee cup he was holding to feel the vibration of the drones. Sick. I sat down and closed my eyes to surf the sound waves and purify my soul through drones, but soon realized I could suffer permanent hearing damage if I stayed too long. How cool is it that the 2026 Big Ears Festival was able to present a live performance of Metal Machine Music?
Openness Trio
The Point
Yet another Josh Johnson performance, this time with the Openness Trio in partnership with Nate Mercereau (guitar) and Carlos Niño (all things percussion, including objects that one would never associate with percussion). Johnson is deft at determining how his sound fits with others so that the resulting project will be distinct from his other collaborations. On first listen, it could be argued that this trio’s blueprint is similar to Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes for its serene qualities. This didn’t turn out to be the case as Mercereau’s futuristic sound bending and Niño’s incongruous percussion techniques fits perfectly with Johnson’s pure, single note entries, ensuring that this combination is a unique offering.
Orcutt Shelley Miller
The Standard
It was time for me to depart from the Brigadoon-nature of Big Ears and drive home to real life, but not before giving myself 30 minutes with Orcutt Shelley Miller’s burn-clean-with-ice sound. This is the best current power trio in rock and roll, folks. Orcutt has stated in interviews that since he usually plays by himself or in duos, he wanted to be in this band to provide him with a platform to play guitar solos. Mission accomplished as Orcutt unquestionably channeled his inner Hendrix, especially “Machine Gun”-era Hendrix. At other moments, he would lock in with Miller for frayed guitar-bass harmonies. Shelley was grinning most of the time. Miller broke out in smiles constantly. The audience was beaming too. The power and the glory of rock and roll compel us all.
Thank you to everyone with Big Ears for having me. The clock has started, ticking down to 2027 Big Ears!
Ryan Davs & The Roadhouse Band photo courtesy of Ash Ogle.
Recliner Notes 
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