By Tony Gervino
Photo above by Mikael Jorgense
About 8,000 people per day are expected to attend Solid Sound, the music, art, and comedy festival taking place in North Adams in late June. And there are six additional people who may just enjoy the biannual event most of all: the members of Wilco, one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic rock bands of this or any era, who have curated the event from its start in 2010.
“It’s always such a rich and rewarding experience for the band and for me, personally,” said bassist John Stirratt. “Solid Sound is so different from any other festival.” For starters, it’s held on the MASS MoCA campus, itself a world-class destination and bastion of diverse artistic expression, which sets the tone for the weekend.
The music lineup features two performances by Wilco, as well as Wilco-approved headliners, near-headliners, legends, cult favorites, and newcomers from every corner of the sonic landscape. For every top touring act like Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, the festival has musical icons like Young Fresh Fellows, Iris DeMent, and Nick Lowe & Los Straightjackets (who performed a fiery set at Tanglewood last summer). And in a flex move, the band coaxed Miracle Legion, a cult band that has played sparingly over the past 25 years, to perform a set.
Wilco is a group of musical polymaths—principal songwriter and leader Jeff Tweedy, Stirratt, Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, Glenn Kotche, and Mikael Jorgensen—and these band members will also be performing with their side projects. For Stirratt and Sansone, it’s The Autumn Defense, a dreamy, textured country act that has released several albums; for Cline and Kotche, it’s experimental jazz with Saccata Quartet. Most of the members will also be playing solo sets or impromptu jam sessions with other acts—which is what happens whenever Wilco’s members are hanging around.
Within the past couple of years, Wilco has released two exceptional albums—a double LP, “Cruel Country,” that falls firmly under the country music banner and, more recently, “Cousin,” which is described most accurately as being in Wilco’s genre-flattening wheelhouse. Unsurprisingly, their loyal fans, who have flocked to both albums and have never met a Wilco ticket presale they didn’t like, have been scooping up all available tickets for the band’s just-launched summer tour.
“The music is so much fun to play live,” said Stirratt. “Jeff is continuing to produce such great work. I look at myself all the time and think, ‘I can’t believe I get to play with the people I love to play with, all these years later.’”
TOURISTS CABINS are rolling out— these purpose- built structures are designed and handmade in North Adams. Photo by Niall Cronin.
A big Wilco welcome at Solid Sound. Photo by Bonniver Snyder
Stirratt, a Louisiana native who has settled with his family in southern Maine, has been performing with Tweedy since the early ’90s, first as the bassist in Uncle Tupelo, a legendary band that created its own genre, alt-country. Wilco was born from that band’s dissolution and, as a founding member, Stirratt has toured regularly, which certainly provides him the bona fides to help build a festival lineup. That doesn’t mean that it comes together easily.
“You can just imagine the chaos of us throwing all these names into the pot and seeing what works,” he said with a smile. The band’s attachment to the Berkshires predates Solid Sound, coinciding with two significant developments: the first time Wilco played to a rapturous, sold-out crowd at Tanglewood in 2008, and when its then-longtime manager Tony Margherita settled in Northampton, moving much of the band’s back-of-house operations to the Berkshires.
Stirratt’s ties to the area, however, are especially strong, as he is the co-founder and part owner of TOURISTS, a 46-room hotel that opened in North Adams in 2018. Stirratt and his partners set out to establish what he calls a “bunkhouse feel”—combining the amenities of a full-service hotel with the aura of a campground. One example: the hotel boasts a large communal fire pit with Sing for Your Slumber music performances and s’mores.
Stirratt, who refers to TOURISTS as “a hotel and an idea,” learned a lot about living on the road in his 30-plus years of touring. “Being a hotelier is kind of surreal because most of my hospitality experience revolved around having a band crash house in the college town,” he said, laughing. “We always felt that North Adams was going to be a destination—the biggest challenge was convincing people from the city or South County to turn the duration of stay into a weekend thing—three nights instead of zero nights.”
To do so, Stirratt and his partners created programming with in-room massages, craft classes, and guided hikes, including one promisingly entitled Wildcrafted: Foraged Cocktails, as well as many others that offer visitors exposure to the area’s natural splendor and local vendors.
Stirratt and his partners are currently planning two new projects: TOURISTS HOMES is a series of renovated, original houses located on Massachusetts Avenue in North Adams; they will have the look and feel of a hotel, with amenities and with yards (open for guest stays this summer). TOURIST CABINS are prefabricated with the company’s aesthetic, so the TOURISTS experience will be available at different properties (pre-orders start soon).
With these moves, Stirratt & Co. will continue to provide an alternative to traditional brick-and-mortar hotels and motels for travelers that may want a less expected and far more rewarding experience than the norm. Similar to a certain band and an upcoming music festival.
