Formidable — that is the word Rolling Stone used to describe the lineup for the 2016 Big Ears Festival.

The festival began in 2009 and has certainly impressed its patrons ever since. With the 2016 festival about five months away, the lineup was announced on Tuesday, Oct. 20. It has garnished a good deal of excitement with names like Yo La Tengo, Angel Olsen, Andrew Bird and Kamasi Washington, whose saxophone work was featured on Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly.”

The Daily Beacon caught up with Big Ears founder and curator, Ashley Capps, to discuss the excitement surrounding the upcoming festival.

Daily Beacon: The Big Ears festival website says the festival is “Declared ‘one of the country’s most audacious musical experiments’ by Vice and ‘the classiest, most diverse festival in the country’ by Rolling Stone.” What factors do you think contribute to these impressions of the festival?”

Ashley Capps: We are very honored and humbled by the extraordinary response to Big Ears, and it’s inspiring to see that it resonates so strongly with people. I think there are several reasons. One is simple: the festival hosts performances by artists — young and old — who have had a profound and powerful impact on our culture during the past 50 years or so. While they may not be “household” names for many, they are some of the influential and highly regarded artists of our time.

Big Ears is also programmed a bit differently than many musical festivals. Instead of being centered around a particular genre — in other words, like a country festival, or a bluegrass festival, or a rock festival, or a jazz festival — Big Ears is programmed more like a film festival or an art festival, bringing together great artists of all kinds and giving them the platform to present great work. There are themes that are woven through the weekend, but the overall programming is more like weaving a tapestry of different interlocking patterns as opposed to building a box that puts similar things in while leaving everything else out.

I also think the experience is very nurturing. Being in Downtown Knoxville, seeing these great artists perform in fabulous venues that each offer a unique experience like the Tennessee and Bijou Theatres, The Square Room, The Standard — all within walking distance of one another and restaurants and shops, and experiencing the festival in a town that still retains much of its historic character. It’s something both artists and audiences love.

DB: The 2016 lineup was recently released. What kind of feedback have you been getting from fans so far, and have you heard any excitement from any of the artists?

AC: The response has been amazing really. The best response we’ve ever had. And, yes, many of the artists are excited as well about being a part of a festival with some of the others on the bill. There are several show, like Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass’ collaboration or the performance of Outside the Dream Syndicate, which people will likely not get to see anywhere this year outside of Big Ears. But fans and artists alike are also responding to the breadth and depth of the programming, and their reactions inspire us too.

DB: Film seems to be an art form that is becoming increasingly popular. Can you talk about how film ties into the festival and what is to be expected for 2016?

AC: One of the guiding principles behind Big Ears is to explore ways in which music interfaces and interacts with other art forms, and, of course, film is a place where this happens regularly. We’re still working on details for the film component this year, but it will continue to be an important facet to the festival.

DB: As you look back and reflect on a time when the festival was just an idea, how do you measure the success of it after the past few years?

AC: The degree to which both artists and audiences have embraced Big Ears and its concept is how I measure its success. The audiences grow every year, and artists are coming to us more and more wanting to be a part of the festival and present special projects. That’s very exciting and gratifying to me personally. And now we have invitations to bring the concept to other cities, as well. We have no immediate plans to do that, but there are some intriguing opportunities coming our way. We’ll see.

In the meantime, growing Big Ears and letting it continue to evolve in Downtown Knoxville is first and foremost in our minds.

Tickets for the festival go on sale Friday at noon. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit http://bigearsfestival.com/tickets/