Amythyst Kiah: free performance March 20 at KMA

Singer-songwriter Amythyst Kiah, one of this year’s Big Ears musicians, will give a free performance at the Knoxville Museum of Art on March 20. The reception at 6 p.m. and the performance at 7 p.m. are free and open to the public.

Her performance on the eve of the 2024 Big Ears Festival is part of the UT Libraries’ unique series Boundless: Artists in the Archives.

The Boundless program invites musicians and other artists to visit the UT Libraries’ archives and create original works inspired by what they discover there.

For the March 20 occasion, Kiah has composed a song inspired by firsthand accounts of the 2016 wildfires in the Great Smoky Mountains. Those firsthand accounts are part of an oral history project conducted in the wake of the deadly Chimney Tops 2 wildfires.

Rolling Stone has called Kiah “one of Americana’s great up-and-coming secrets.” Her song “Black Myself” earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best American Roots Song and won Song of the Year at the 2019 Folk Alliance International Awards. Read more about Amythyst Kiah on the Big Ears website.

The Knoxville Museum of Art is located at 1050 World’s Fair Park Drive.

Registration is requested, but not required — RSVP at tiny.utk.edu/Boundless2024.