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Big Ears Backstory

Knoxville Native Ashley Capps at the Heart of the City's Renaissance

From classical to electronic pop to indie folk music and more, visitors to Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival can experience an eclectic blend of musicians, styles, and genres. Founded in 2009, this festival is unique not only for its diversity of style but also because it is built specifically for Knoxville. 

Ashley Capps, Knoxville native and founder of AC Entertainment, is widely known for founding the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in 2002. Enjoying tremendous success from that annual event, Capps wanted to offer a smaller type of festival experience that nurtures the same sense of community among participants while also presenting the highest caliber of music. He was inspired by many European festivals that use multiple venues within the same city. There, it is not uncommon for concerts to be held in churches, gallery spaces, or museums. With charming Southern character, great hotels and restaurants, and a unique footprint not found in other cities, Knoxville was the perfect place to bring his vision to life. 

“The festival is in many ways defined by the character of Knoxville itself,” Capps says. “It’s not that common to find a city anywhere in the country that has such a wonderful array of venues and amenities all within a relatively easy walk of one another.”

With world-class theaters like the Tennessee Theatre and the Bijou Theatre -- both managed by AC Entertainment -- in addition to night clubs, churches, museums, and outdoor spaces all within walking distance, Big Ears Festival really offers a taste of the town.

No matter the genre or venue, the Knoxville community embraces the creative spirit that drives Big Ears. 

“You could hear classical Bach at St. John’s Cathedral, then go to the Standard and hear cutting edge electronic music, or Tennessee Theater and see the symphony. It’s a very multifaceted experience,” Capps says. 

While the festival is a ticketed event, select performances, discussions, and exhibitions are given in public spaces such as the Knoxville Museum of Art or Market Square. Capps hopes to engage and inspire even wider audiences by making parts of the festival accessible to the community at large. He is a passionate believer in the power of music and art to inspire young people and to develop life skills like discipline, cooperation, and delayed gratification. 

“It’s not that everyone needs to be a musician or artist,” he says,” but the experience of engaging with that arts is invaluable.”

Capp’s commitment to bringing art and music to Knoxville isn’t just about selling tickets, though. He is thrilled by the revitalization he has seen downtown as a result of bringing artists to the city. 

Growing up in Fountain City in the 1960’s and seventies, Ashley remembers when downtown Knoxville was a bustling center of arts and industry. During his senior year of high school, Ashley began hosting a jazz show on Knoxville’s WUOT radio, and through their expansive library, he was able to explore all kinds of musical genres. When emerging or obscure artists learned he was playing their music on the air, they started reaching out to him to book concerts. 

By the 1980’s, Knoxville’s suburbs were booming, and downtown was not. When the floundering Tennessee and Bijou theaters were threatened with demolition, Capps wanted to bring new life to these historic venues. He started booking concerts there in 1980, promoting 12 to 18 shows per year while working odd jobs to make ends meet.

Joining others in the effort to revitalize downtown Knoxville, Capps opened a nightclub in the Old City, which at that time was little more than a warehouse district with a couple of restaurants. Ella Guru’s welcomed many budding artists, like Widespread Panic, Emmylou Harris, and even Garth Brooks for his first two shows in the city. 

“That was my graduate school in the music business,” Capps says, allowing him to make connections and forge relationships that would eventually lead to AC Entertainment, one of the most successful promoting organizations in the industry. They took over booking and programming for the Tennessee Theater in 1996 and the Bijou not long after that. At first, he remembers getting calls from people annoyed at having to come downtown for a concert. However, as art brought visitors downtown, that traffic enabled others to open new restaurants and businesses in the area as well. 

Capps is amazed by the transformation the city has undergone in the last few decades, and he is proud to have had a part in it. “It feels like a full-fledged Renaissance going on right now,” he beams, “and so many people are coming to be a part of that experience.” 

Big Ears Festival is certainly contributing to that Renaissance, now one of the fastest-growing festivals in the country, last year it attracted guests from 49 states and 23 countries. In addition to supporting the vitality and economic development of downtown Knoxville, Big Ears has a philanthropic arm that invests money directly back into the community. 

“I’m really happy to have been able to have a role in improving the quality of life in the communities in which we work,” Capps says. “To build a company where employees can have fulfilling careers and do what they love in Knoxville, creating festival experiences that have made people’s lives more enjoyable, and having had the opportunity to make a difference in the community in which I live,” he adds, “that excites me even more than presenting bands these days.”

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