Talking the Talk at Big Ears

Up ahead: there's music in the discourse at the Big Ears festival.

At a Big Ears Festival panel in 2019, with fellow critics Grayson Haver Currin, Ann Powers, Giovanni Russonello, and moderator John Schaefer.

The Big Ears Festival, whose 2023 edition begins one week from today, could be tenuously but credibly described as a walking discourse. You descend on downtown Knoxville with good shoes and a yen for discovery. You…