When you think about music in Tennessee, Nashville and country music tend to come to mind. It’s no real surprise that Nashville holds a large music festival, but the rest of the state plays hosts to some great music festival events too – and they’re not all country music.
Here’s the rundown on Tennessee’s big annual music festivals:
Bonnaroo (Manchester, TN) – This is one of the biggest and best music festivals in the U.S.. Bonnaroo started out with a jam band focus, and there’s still lots of that going on, but the lineup is now extremely diverse and features music from a wide variety of genres. Bonnaroo is more than just a music festival. The event includes a full festival experience, with camping and a full range of activities. Bonnaroo has been credited with revolutionizing the modern rock festival, and Rolling Stone called the establishment of this festival one of the “50 moments that changed rock and roll.” The fest is held on a large farm in Manchester, Tennessee, which is about half way between Nashville and Chattanooga.
CMA Music Festival (Nashville, TN) – The Country Music Association’s annual festival includes a series of ticketed stadium concerts featuring some of the biggest names in country music, but you don’t need a ticket to the big shows to have a good time at this event. A series of stages located throughout downtown Nashville provide lots of free entertainment. There’s also a fan fair with at the Music City Center with Q&As, autograph sessions, and more music. Everything’s located in downtown Nashville (there’s a pedestrian bridge to get from downtown to the stadium, which is located across the river).
Big Ears Festival (Knoxville, TN) – Big Ears is the largest avant-garde music festival in the US. The focus is on cutting edge music and performances that combine music with other art forms. You’ll find music from a variety of genres at this event that Rolling Stone called “the classiest, most diverse, festival in the country.” The 2016 line-up includes John Luther Adams as artist-in-residence, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Andrew Bird, Bonnie Prince Billy, The Necks, jazz legend Anthony Braxton, rock acts Yo La Tengo and Sunn O))), chamber music group eighth blackbird, and Irish supergroup The Gloaming. Performances are held at a variety of downtown Knoxville venues, including the grand Tennessee Theatre, the smaller Bijou Theatre, and more intimate performance spaces at The Standard and The Square Room.
Beale Street Music Festival (Memphis, TN) – Of course, Memphis, home of the Memphis blues, isn’t going to be left out of the Tennessee music festival scene. The Beale Street Music Festival fills Memphis’ waterfront Tom Lee Park with three days of music. The acts are some of the best from a variety of genres. The 2016 line-up includes Neil Young + Promise of the Real, Beck, Paul Simon, Weezer, Zedd, Train, Meghan Trainor, Jason Derulo, Modest Mouse, Panic! At the Disco, Yo Gotti, Grace Potter, Barenaked Ladies, Young the Giant, Cold War Kids, Cypress Hill, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, The Arcs, Bastille, Violent Femmes, Courtney Barnett, Jonny Lang, Gin Blossoms, Trampled By Turtles, Moon Taxi, Lucinda Williams, Better Than Ezra, Houndmouth, Los Lobos, The Joy Formidable, Indigo Girls, and Blackberry Smoke.
Pilgrimage Music and Culture Festival (Franklin, TN) – Pilgrimage is one of Tennessee’s newer music festivals. The first event took place in 2015 and got a great start with performances by Wilco, Willie Nelson, Weezer, Cage the Elephant, Steven Tyler, The Decemberists, Sheryl Crow, Band of Horses, Dr. John, Jimmy Cliff, Dawes, Chris Stapleton, the Punch Brothers, and more. The festival is held in a rural setting just 20 minutes from Nashville, at The Park at Harlinsdale.
