Knoxville Tennessee’s Big Ears Music Festival has just announced its eclectic 2019 line-up featuring Sons of Chipotle, which features former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Icelandic experimental music group Múm and Kim Gordon, her Body/Head bandmate Bill Nace,  John Truscinski and Steve Gunn performing a live soundtrack to Andy Warhol’s iconic silent film KISS, originally released in 1963.

This festival will take place in downtown Knoxville from March 26–29 2020, and will host other prominent artists such as Meredith Monk, who will be performing with the Bang On A Can All-Stars, Caroline Shaw performing with SŌ percussion, and a rare US appearance from Dutch band Efterklang. Last year’s festival held appearances from Mercury Rev, Spiritualized and Rhiannon Giddens.

The festival is notable for featuring an eclectic line-up of artists. performing musical pieces that are often unique to the festival itself. Performances for this festival are one of a kind, and are nearly impossible to duplicate at other festival locations.

Jones formed the group Sons of Chipotle earlier this year as a duo with world-renowned Finnish cellist Anssi Karttunen. This performance will be one of the group’s first in the United States, having performed in London already, with two appearances scheduled in Japan this year.

Múm released the album Menschen am Sonntag – Live in Berlin, last year. As mxdwn reviewer Drew Pitt described: “From a sound quality standpoint it sounds as though it was recorded in a high-end studio, perhaps the only portion of this album that feels live is the stunning sound.”

Gordon will release her upcoming studio album No Home Record on October 11th, a mere days from the publication of this article. The former Sonic Youth bassist and singer released a concept music video for “Air BnB” earlier this year, which showed Gordon’s idea for a music video through a series of text slides.

UPDATE (11/15): Big Ears has added to its 2020 lineup. Included in the additions are Patti Smith and Her Band, a new project from Liz Cooper (Grouper) called Nivhek, who recently debuted a new album under the moniker. Other additions include Danish sound artist Jacob Kirkegaard, Fennesz, groundbreaking Chicago chamber group Ensemble Dal Niente, Bell Orchestre featuring Arcade Fire members Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry and more.

Photo Credit: Owen Ela