Yasmin Williams, William Tyler and Marisa Anderson
The 2020 installment of Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival was called off in March, just a few weeks before it was set to begin and just days after SXSW pulled the plug. The annual experimental-improvisational summit was among the first dominoes to fall in this sad year, devoid of in-person live music. Big Ears, which drew record crowds in 2019 to see avant-garde leading lights like Shabaka Hutchings and Makaya McCraven, has gone online for the time being. The fest has screened well-produced sets from past performers and potential future ones. They’re filmed at scenic locales that aren’t solely for distancing purposes but also highlight Big Ears’ tranquil East Tennessee setting.
On Friday, viewers were treated to a three-guitar serenade by players representing the West (Marisa Anderson, of Portland, Ore.), East (newcomer Yasmin Williams, from the D.C. area) and South (Nashville’s own William Tyler — who moved to Los Angeles a couple years back but has returned indefinitely to be with family) performing from a cabin in the woods south of Marble City.Â
Tyler, who played Big Ears in 2015 and had been set to perform again this year, shouldn’t require much introduction for Scene readers. Among many other projects, the local music-scene fixture co-owned the much-missed Nations watering hole The Stone Fox (a spiritual link between Lucy’s Record Shop and Drkmttr), held long stints in Lambchop and Silver Jews, and has issued a steady stream of stellar solo albums. In addition to his outstanding score work on First Cow, he also released a new record this year called New Vanitas. On Friday, Tyler played a Gibson SG, coaxing fuller, prettier tones from the bat-shaped ax than it’s known for providing as a go-to guitar for punks and hard rockers. The set included a faithful recreation of the elaborate bridge of “Gone Clear,” from his 2016 LP Modern Country, with dextrous tapping and impeccably-timed delay from what appeared to be just one effects pedal. He left the stompbox running for the lovely, loping “Not In Our Stars,” a standout from 2019’s Goes West.
Marisa Anderson
Playing a Fender Strat painted a soft light blue that popped against her black shirt, silver hair and the wooded backdrop, Anderson’s guitar tone was thick and her songs long and winding. One highlight was the mournful “La Llorona,” named for the child-snatching “weeping woman” of Latin American folklore. “Hurricane Light,” performed with Tyler, was another. As Anderson held down the low end and Tyler riffed up high, the closed-eyed, really-feeling-this expressions on both musicians’ faces reminded me of another great electric duo, Chris Brokaw and Thalia Zedek of ’90s forces-of-nature Come (a perfect fit for Big Ears).Â
Yasmin Williams
Williams, however, was the showstopper. With her acoustic guitar across her lap, the 24-year-old used an intricate two-hand tapping technique for percussive assistance as complex yet soulful arpeggios spilled out in rapid succession. The ascending melodies on “High Five” evoked post-rock or even EDM crescendoes, while the lightning-quick, minor-key “Guitka” recalled a Super Mario boss-level soundtrack, incorporating thumb piano to fill out the sound. It’s impressive enough on its own, but to potentially get to see Williams perform this material with a full ensemble was a thrilling thought — and it isn’t too far-fetched to imagine Big Ears, with its emphasis on collaboration, making it happen somehow. Until then, look out for her second album Urban Driftwood, out January 2021.
