SP* Episode 41: THE PILGRIMAGE

The Sound Propositions podcast is back for a five-part mini-season exploring Big Ears 2026. Rather than another day-by-day recap (you can find that in the newsletter), or a thematic synthesis (see my 2026 review), the following five conversations sketch out a different take on the festival. Over this mini-season, we trace an arc through sacred spaces and dive bars, uncover the quiet labour of film scoring and the collective euphoria of a six-set residency. We explore what happens when a small Appalachian city becomes a vessel for music that exists nowhere else: the alchemy of exhaustion and joy, of secular drones and transcendent prayer, and the radical act of choosing your own path through 250 performances. Featuring conversations with Chuck Johnson, Gwenifer Raymond, Mary Lattimore, Booker Stardrum, and Hania Rani. Speaking of Hania Rani, her Non Fiction is among the first announcements for Unsound NYC 2026, running in late October. And Big Ears itself will be back 1-4 April 2027—keep your ears open for additional announcements. As I mentioned back when Episode 40 dropped (nearly two years ago), Sound Propositions has been on indefinite hiatus while I work on a book (and try to find a steady job). Earlier this year, I dropped the long-missing Episode 30 from back in 2023, as a hint about another mini-series that will hopefully appear this fall. You can read more about the newsletter here, and subscribe for free, where you’ll be first to hear about upcoming episodes and other projects. Until then, enjoy this look back at Big Ears 2026. Happy Listening! (Joseph Sannicandro) SOUND PROPOSITIONS Episode 41: THE PILGRIMAGE – BIG EARS Sound Propositions should be available wherever you get your podcasts, so please keep an eye out and subscribe (and rate and review, it helps others who might be interested find us). You can support Sound Propositions on Patreon if you are so inclined, or send a one-time donation via PayPal. The first two seasons are also available on Bandcamp. I’m very grateful for any support, which will help ensure future episodes. Interviews recorded in Knoxville, 27 -29 March 2026 Produced and mixed in St Louis, July 2026 Part 1: TECTONIC PRAYERS – with Chuck Johnson The first installment of a five-part pilgrimage exploring the 2026 BIG EARS festival. Chuck Johnson, known for his pedal steel work, talks about his sample-based solo drone set in St. John’s Cathedral, a fitting stage to deliver tectonic, low-end rumbles and sustained harmonics, as documented on his live Caoine series. The episode also recaps the “Scoring the Story” panel, breaking down the grueling labor and ego-suspension required in film composing. Johnson also explains why this spacious, filter-driven shift felt like the next logical step for his practice, and how it has grown out of his recent practice as a DJ. LINKS Chuck Johnson Bandcamp Soundcloud Big Ears TRACKLIST ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR) Chuck Johnson, “Sunrise” (The Guestworker, 2015) SP INTRO Chuck Johnson, “Caoine 6 [excerpt]” (Caoine 6, 2025) Chuck Johnson, “Teleos” (Sun Glories, 2024) Chuck Johnson, “Ground Wave (ft. Clarice Jensen)” (Sun Glories, 2024) Chuck Johnson & Clarice Jensen, [excerpt] (Live at Lodge Room, Los-Angeles, 2026) Chuck Johnson, Constellation (The Cinder Grove, 2021) Chuck Johnson, “More Surreal” (Music From Burden Of Proof, 2023) Chuck Johnson, “Open road and hard stories” (Somewhere South, 2020) Chuck Johnson x Koen Holtkamp, Labradorite Eye (Remix)” (CRXSSINGS, 2019) Chuck Johnson & JWPATON, “Tangled mirror yarn” (Tangled mirror yarn, 2022) Chuck Johnson, “Albion Source” (Live at La Vaca Azul, 2018) Chuck Johnson, “Spiralic” (Across The Horizon Vol. 2 Drop 4, 2026) Chuck Johnson, “The Pace” (Velvet Arc, 2016) Part 2: WELSH PRIMITIVE – with Gwenifer Raymond The second installment of a five-part pilgrimage exploring the 2026 BIG EARS festival. The Welsh guitarist brought her “Welsh primitive” to a dive bar in Knoxville—Appalachian fingerpicking channeled through 90s punk energy, delivered barefoot and shredding by noon with thumb picks in hand. She discusses reinvention over preservation (tradition, she says, is just “good licks”), her first-ever pilgrimage to Appalachia (and its surprising links to Wales), last year’s ACL-beloved Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark, her recent WFMU live album, and her surprisingly effective duo with the “diametrically opposed” Hayden Pedigo. LINKS Gwenifer Raymond Bandcamp WFMU Big Ears TRACKLIST ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR) Gwenifer Raymond, “Worn Out Blues” (Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, 2020) Orcutt Shelley Miller, “Unsafe At Any Speed” (Orcutt Shelley Miller, 2025) SP INTRO Gwenifer Raymond, “Bliws Afon Tâf” (Live at WFMU, 2026) Gwenifer Raymond, “One Day You’ll Lie Here But Everything Will Have Changed” (Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark, 2025) Gwenifer Raymond, “Requiem for John Fahey” (You Never Were Much of a Dancer, 2018) Gwenifer Raymond, “The Three Deaths of Red Spectre” (The Three Deaths of Red Spectre, 2018) Nirvana, “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” (MTV Unplugged in New York, 1994) Leadbelly [Huddie Ledbetter], “In the Pines” [1944] (Where Did You Sleep Last Night?(Lead Belly Legacy Vol. 1), 1996) [soundcheck] Mississippi John Hurt, “Frankie (And Albert)” (The Early Blues Roots Of Bob Dylan, 2020) Hayden Pedigo, “Smoked” (I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away, 2025) Gwenifer Raymond, “Eulogy for Dead French Composer” (Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, 2020) Gwenifer Raymond, “Sometimes There’s Blood” (Sometimes There’s Blood, 2015) Gwenifer Raymond, “Bleeding Finger Blues” (You Never Were Much of a Dancer, 2018) Gwenifer Raymond, “Bonfire of the Billionaires” (Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark, 2025) Part 3: MIRACLES & REQUIEMS – with Mary Lattimore The third installment of a five-part pilgrimage exploring the 2026 BIG EARS festival. The harpist Mary Lattimore discusses her duo set with Julianna Barwick in a Knoxville church, where their ethereal songs took on added weight. She reflects on Tragic Magic, their recent full-length born from processing sadness while seeking sparkle, including a song written for them by Roger Eno and a cover of Vangelis’ “Rachel’s Song” bookended by field recordings of the first rain after the LA fires. She also discusses working with 18th century harps, scoring moving images, and why she likens the festival to summer camp. LINKS Mary Lattimore (Bandcamp) Julianna Barwick (Bandcamp) InFiné Big Ears TRACKLIST ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, LABEL, YEAR) Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, “The Four Sleeping Princesses” (Tragic Magic, 2026) SP INTRO Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, “Perpetual Adoration” (Tragic Magic, 2026) Julianna Barwick, “Oh Memory ft. Mary Lattimore” (Healing Is A Miracle, 2020) Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, “Temple of the Winds” (Tragic Magic, 2026) Brian Eno and Roger Eno, “Spring Frost” (Mixing Colours, 2020) Mary Hopkin and Vangelis, “Rachel’s Song” [1982] (Blade Runner, 1994) Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, “Rachel’s Song” (Tragic Magic, 2026) Julianna Barwick & Mary Lattimore, “Melted Moon” (Tragic Magic, 2026) Mary Lattimore + Laraaji + Mizu + Jamal Shakeri, “Midnight Moon Pool (Womb Of The Soul)” (Red Hot Org – TRAИƧA, 2024) Mary Lattimore & Meg Baird “Fair Annie” (7-Inches For Planned Parenthood, 2017) Mary Lattimore and Walt McClements, “The Poppies, the Wild Mustard, the Blue-Eyed Grass” (Rain on the Road, 2024) Mary Lattimore & Dave Mies, “Winter Wind” (2016-02-07 — Live at Trans-Pecos, 2016) Mary Lattimore & Jeff Zeigler, “The White Balloon” (Slant of Light, 2014) Mary Lattimore, “Silver Ladders” (Silver Ladders, 2020) Part 4: IN RESIDENCE – with Booker Stardrum The fourth installment of a five-part pilgrimage exploring the 2026 BIG EARS festival. The drummer of LA quintet SML, Booker Stardrum reflects on the group’s remarkable six-set residency, where groove-based improvisation pivoted from dance party to delicate texture, fueled by the rare alchemy of strong personalities who refuse to dominate. Stardrum also discusses Close-up On The Outside, his deep new solo album for We Jazz, a quiet meditation that showcases his unique compositional voice apart from his collaborators. Against the backdrop of a festival that felt like a love letter to LA’s rise as a gravitational center for contemporary music, he notes the cross-pollination on display: “When we lock in, we lock in. It’s an honor to play with musicians of that talent.” LINKS Booker Stardrum (Bandcamp) SML (Bandcamp) Cloud Becomes Your Hand International Anthem We Jazz Joyful Noise Big Ears TRACKLIST ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, YEAR) [Greg Saunier soundchecking for Joyful Noise] SP INTRO Booker Stardrum, “Inside Sounds” (Close-up On The Outside, 2026) Cloud Becomes Yours Hand, “Doggy Paddle (Bogart the Sorghum)” (doggy paddle, 2011) Cloud Becomes Yours Hand, “Third Avenue Slime” (Rest in Fleas, 2016) Booker Stardrum, “Telluric (ft. Anna Butterss, Jeremiah Chiu, Logan Hone)” (Close-up On The Outside, 2026) Harry Partch and ensemble/Danlee Mitchell, “Castor & Pollux: A Dance for the Twin Rhythms of Gemini” (The World Of Harry Partch, 1968) Booker Stardrum & Chris Williams, “Ballast” (Relay, 2023) SML, “Plankton” (How You Been, 2025) Booker Stardrum, “Close-up On The Outside” (Close-up On The Outside, 2026) Booker Stardrum, “Dusk (ft. Chris Williams)” (Close-up On The Outside, 2026) Booker Stardrum, “Diorama” (CRATER, 2021) SML, “Rubber Tree Dance” (Small Medium Large, 2024) SML, “Moving Walkway” (How You Been, 2025) Gregory Uhlmann, “Back Scratch” (Extra Stars, 2026) Jeff Parker, Josh Johnson, Anna Butterss, Jay Bellerose “2019-07-08 I” (Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy, 2022) SML, “Window Sill Song” (Small Medium Large, 2024) SML, “Taking out the Trash” (How You Been, 2025) SML, “The Drums” (Spontaneous Music Live, 2026) SML XL (Jeff Parker and Mikel Patrick Avery), [excerpt] (Live from Greyhound at Big Ears, 28 March 2026) Play Time, “Open the Door, Joey” (Magic Object, 2026) Booker Stardrum and Evan Shornstein, “AND A GOOD MONDAY” (OOPS!, 2026) Booker Stardrum, “Five Finger Cloud” (‘Temporary etc.’, 2018) Booker Stardrum, “Drim Dram” (‘Dance And’, 2015) Booker Stardrum, “Phantom Near Interlude” (Flowers Not Bombs, 2026) Part 5: WAITING ROOM – with Hania Rani The final installment of a five-part pilgrimage through the 2026 BIG EARS festival. The Polish pianist and composer moves between two modes: the orchestral expansiveness of her piano concerto Non Fiction with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the arpeggiated synth patterns of her solo electronic alter ego Chilling Bambino—a love letter to her Prophet 8 and a chance to escape the rigor of classical composition for smaller, weirder rooms. She discusses why she created the alias (“people who don’t know Hania Rani can just enter with curiosity”), the value of creating space to think in an overscheduled world, and the festival’s ethos of genre refusal—disorientation as a positive value, where listening means staying with what you don’t yet recognize. LINKS Hania Rani Bandcamp Sheet Music Non Fiction Sonic Liberation Front / Radio alHara Big Ears TRACKLIST ARTIST – “TITLE” (ALBUM, YEAR) Hania Rani, “I.III Meno Mosso” (Non Fiction – Piano Concerto in Four Movements, 2025) SP INTRO Hania Rani presents Chilling Bambino, [excerpt] (Live at Tivoli Vredenburg 2025-11-09) Patrick Watson, “je te laisserai des mots (instrumental)” (2010) Hania Rani, “II.II Presto” (Non Fiction – Piano Concerto in Four Movements, 2025) Portico Quartet, “With, Beside, Against (Hania Rani Remix)” (Portico Quartet / Hania Rani, 2021) Hania Rani presents Chilling Bambino, [excerpt] (Live at Tivoli Vredenburg 2025-11-09) Hania Rani, “IV. Semplice” (Non Fiction – Piano Concerto in Four Movements, 2025) Hania Rani presents Chilling Bambino, [excerpt] (Live at Tivoli Vredenburg 2025-11-09) Hania Rani, “Struggle” (On Giacometti, 2023) Hania Rani, “There Will Be Hope” (Inner Symphonies, 2021) Hania Rani, “Waiting” (Music for Film and Theatre, 2021) —- Sound Propositions is written, recorded, mixed, and produced by Joseph Sannicandro.