KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A group of students created songs based on some of their favorite spots in Knoxville. This was a project for the Big Ears Festival 2022.
Students in a creative writing class at Fulton High School wrote stories and poems about their favorite places in Knoxville. Then, a class of music production students took those stories and paired them with beats and sounds.
Festival musicians were paired with the students to perform the audio tracks near the location of students' favorite locations.
The final product was a story and sound map of Knoxville. The project is titled "City Songs: Knoxville."
Big Ears Festival said this project was supported in part by a Presentation Grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
The students picked places in Knoxville with special memories. One student, Neveah Wright, chose her grandmother's old apartment in the old Austin Homes apartments. She shared that being with her grandma in her home is one of her favorite memories.
Wright wanted to use the project to take the viewer to a place that no longer exists.
One student used lyrics to show what it was like to grow up in a neighborhood with a legacy of violence and uncertainty. Azion Dawkins grew up in Mayfield Park.
Dawkins writes in the song "used to walk through the hood with about 60 friends. Now I look up and now they ain't nowhere near. Now I'm sitting alone with my thoughts in here"
Some other spots in Knoxville featured in the project are UT Botanical Gardens, Downtown Knoxville, Green Magnet Math and Science Academy, the Churchwell and North Central intersection, Jody Wright Arena and Boright Park.
The Big Ears Festival was held in March 2022. It is one of Knoxville's biggest music festivals in the area.