Big Ears: Conversations About Music

Guitarist Nels Cline has been thinking about Lovers for most of his adult life. First imagined in the early 1980s as a darker, more bruised meditation on romance, Lovers slowly evolved as Cline evolved himself. When the album finally emerged in 2016 after 30 years of gestation on Blue Note Records, it had become something far more expansive and inviting—a sweeping meditation on intimacy, vulnerability, and emotional truth. On this episode, journalist Natalie Weiner joins Cline and trumpeter-arranger Michael Leonhart to reflect on the long road to Lovers: a project built from unlikely but complementary dualities—lush orchestration and jazz improvisation, American Songbook standards alongside music by Annette Peacock, Jimmy Giuffre, The Ambitious Lovers, and even Sonic Youth.
Along the way, they discuss the musicians who shaped Cline’s musical language, from Jim Hall to Marc Ribot, and the surprising touchstones that helped unify the work. Cline and Leonhart talk about bringing the music to the stage, joined by the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra—for a one-of-a-kind performance at Big Ears 2026.

Guitar legend Marc Ribot in dialogue with guest host, cultural critic Larry Blumenfeld (WSJ, The Nation). A true original, Ribot has always gone his own way, recording over two dozen records as a leader, while appearing on an estimated 600 or so albums by others - from Tom Waits’ singular Rain Dogs to Alison Krauss & Robert Plant’s Raising Sand; plus the likes of Elvis Costello, Henry Grimes, John Zorn, Wilson Pickett and Marianne Faithfull. Here, Marc reflects on his early experiences on the New York music scene and his singular evolution as an artist; shares thoughts about the three projects he’s bringing to Big Ears 2026, and discusses his activism, specifically the challenges facing musicians in an age of streaming and AI, and what it means to create—and organize—in ever-changing times.

In this special edition of Big Ears: Conversations About Music, four deeply engaged listeners -Ayana Contreras, Piotr Orlov, Liz Pelly, and Steve Smith - survey the sounds that moved them in 2025—offering a preview of just a few of the highlights in store for Big Ears 2026. The conversation encompasses a fiercely prolific Downtown innovator (John Zorn), a wide embrace of the contemporary classical landscape (JACK Quartet, Hania Rani); fiercely independent rock bands (Deerhoof, YHWH Nailgun); folk music deeply rooted in history and identity (Haley Heynderickx, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band) gospel music ripe for the dance floor (Annie & The Caldwells), two vastly different fusions of electronics and improvisation (Patricia Brennan & Flying Lotus) and two trumpeters from Baltimore & Chicago whose sound is deeply informed by local community and collaborators (Brandon Woody & Marquis Hill). This episode offers the kind of snapshot of outsider music scenes that only Big Ears can offer. Explore the common and contrasting musical DNA that defines our ethos. Give it a listen!

Tracks Played in this Episode:
Annie & the Caldwells
I Made It

Don’t You Hear Me Calling

Marquis Hill
I Promise to Listen

The Cool

Brandon Woody
Real Love, Pt. I

We, Ota Benga

John Zorn (Masada / related works)
Jachin (Masada Quartet – Live at Tonic 2001)

Sacred Beasts (John Zorn & Dave Lombardo – Memories, Dreams & Reflections)

JACK Quartet
Conjurations (from Necronomicon, Complete String Quartets)

Spectral Waves (from Waves & Particles)

Hania Rani
Chilling Bambino (from Ghosts)

Piano Concerto “Non-Fiction”: I

YHWH Nailgun
Penetrator

Castrato Raw (Fullback)

Flying Lotus
Ingo Swann

Arkestry

Patricia Brennan
Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)

Antilia

Deerhoof
Kingtoe

Haley Heynderickx
Song for Alicia

This Morning I Am Born Again

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band
New Threats From the Soul (Studio)

New Threats From the Soul (Live in Cambridge)

On this episode of Big Ears: Conversations About Music, journalist and author Marcus J. Moore sits down with the formidable LA-based saxophonist, composer and producer Josh Johnson, a ubiquitous presence in today’s jazz scene. Big Ears' Ashley Capps was so taken by Johnson’s many performances at Big Ears 2025 that he asked him to curate a series of seven concerts at our 2026 festival. He’ll join Ashley on a future podcast to talk about his curation. Meanwhile, here we shine a light on his warm exploratory sound, often enhanced by electronics. The conversation moves from his early influences, digs into his critically-acclaimed solo records Freedom Exercise and Unusual Object, and discusses his collaborations with Leon Bridges, Jeff Parker and producing Me'shell Ndegeocello's GRAMMY-winning The Omnichord Real Book.  Lastly, we hear about the origins of his collaboration with Carlos Niño and Nate Mercereau on Openness Trio, his experience at Big Ears 2025 and how his curiosity has evolved over the years.

Wild Up makes their Big Ears debut as one of the most innovative forces in contemporary music. Led by artistic director Christopher Rountree, the Los Angeles-based ensemble has spent more than a decade reshaping the possibilities of classical performance—merging composed and improvised music, conceptual art, minimalism, and audience-focused experimentation. Violinist-vocalist Darian Donovan Thomas and the group’s many composer-performers help shape projects that feel communal and alive.
Here joined by veteran critic Peter Margasak, Rountree and Thomas focus on their history as an ensemble and aligning their creative energies towards two groundbreaking American artists: Julius Eastman and Arthur Russell. Their Eastman projects including "Femenine," developed over more than a decade—channel the music’s intensity, freedom, and disruption, creating performances that feel both fiercely present and deeply vulnerable. Their Arthur Russell work, the 90-minute dance-floor experience, “24→24 Music,” celebrates Russell’s emotional clarity and experimental spirit. Expect aural catharsis, vivid imagination, and boundary-breaking music-making from one of today’s most electrifying new music ensembles.