Big Ears 2026

As celebrated over on the main site, the Big Ears festival has released its 2026 lineup. Best Big Ears lineup ever? Best festival lineup ever, any genre, any century, ever in the history of music? 

God, I love hyperbole.

I've already bought my big-bucks, VIP Sonic Explorer four-day, all-access pass, and already have my four-day downtown hotel reservation secured and paid for. Next March, all that I'll need to pay for is the gas to get up there and food during my stay, and of course, a beer or two at Clancy's. 

  

Many people are understandably excited about David Byrne and others are pinching themselves over the possibility of seeing Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant. We're all excited about seeing John Zorn return. All are worthy additions to the lineup. but I encourage those of you who like diverse forms of music to not sleep on Brain Marsella's aptly named Imaginarium. 

Their album, Medietas, was a major, three-CD odyssey through musical history, sounding at times like various forms of jazz, at times like blues and rock, at times like some forgotten movie soundtrack, and at times like some Frank Zappa fever dream. In ways, this one set could summarize all of the diverse musical programming at the Big Ears festival. I hope the festival allots him more than the standard 60 minutes to perform this three-hour long opus, although I'll gladly take whatever they can offer.

I made a Spotify playlist of the most recent or the most representative album by each and every Big Ears 2026 performer. The playlist is over 120 hours long and contains over 1,500 tracks. Yesterday, I took a ten-mile hike through the Chattahoochee National Recreation Area listening to the playlist on random shuffle through Bluetooth headphones. It was a blissful and at times transcendental experience and I look forward to taking that trip again. You doing anything tomorrow?