Wilco, the perennially creative American band, has a lot to celebrate this year. On Friday, the eighth iteration of Solid Sound, its biennial music and arts festival, will get underway at Mass MoCA, in North Adams. It will coincide with the release of a breezy new EP, “Hot Sun Cool Shroud.” In November, Wilco will mark the 30th anniversary of its first-ever show.
But perhaps the most pertinent milestone is the 20th anniversary, last month, of two concerts in a small nightclub in DeKalb, Ill. Those shows marked the debut of the band’s current lineup, in which two newcomers — guitarist Nels Cline and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Sansone — joined drummer Glenn Kotche and keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson (who’d come to the band earlier in the 2000s) and frontman Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt, who’d been there from the beginning.
The two newcomers solidified a band that had undergone considerable upheaval in the decade since its birth. Few, if any, fans would contest the notion that the current lineup constitutes the definitive iteration of Wilco. And yet the rebirth almost didn’t happen. Before the new band could even rehearse together, Tweedy, its chief songwriter, checked himself into a rehab facility for addiction to painkillers and mental health issues.
During his absence, Stirratt led the first rehearsals with the newcomers — singing Tweedy’s lines and providing a calming influence. He recalled that uncertain time during a recent phone interview. Almost immediately he got excited about how Cline, who had made his name largely in experimental and improvised music, and Sansone — Stirratt’s partner in The Autumn Defense, a pop-inflected side project — were providing “a new frame for the band’s sound,” he said by phone from his home in Maine.
“At the same time,” he continued, with Tweedy’s absence, everyone was “just hoping the thing would continue. I mean, all bets were off at that point.”
So when the band finally emerged for those first gigs at Otto’s Niteclub, in DeKalb (owned by their then-soundman, Stan Doty), they were greeted by a long and extremely loud ovation from the 500-strong crowd before they’d even played a note.
“Honestly, it scared the [expletive] out of me,” said Cline, now 68, by phone from his home in upstate New York. “I had done so much playing, but I’d never experienced that kind of intensity coming from the audience.” And he was already nervous, it being his debut. “I just wanted to stay on top of my world and not forget parts.”
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“From that point,” said Stirratt, “we just kind of never looked back.”
In the ensuing 20 years, Wilco has become a model of stability. “I would definitely not say this if it weren’t true, but we do have a great relationship,” said Stirratt. “We really bonded and had some adventures early on,” including the band’s first trip to Spain the following year. “We were playing really small clubs and had no idea what to expect. And there were these just absolutely uproarious shows. It put us together on this amazing adventure.”
Artistically, though, the band is a model of restiveness. “Jeff doesn’t repeat himself in terms of how he wants to think of a record, and then what methodology may apply,” Cline explained. “It’s a zigzag, not a straight line.” That observation is borne out when one considers that the band’s three most recent efforts include a darkly enigmatic rock album (“Ode to Joy”), a sprawling collection of country songs (“Cruel Country”), and a quirky art-pop record (“Cousin”).
“But the thing that is consistent, in my opinion, is the live show, which is pretty kickass,” he continued. “I’m really proud of our live shows. And I think that we’ve done some pretty bold things.” He cites with particular approval the band’s performance at the 2015 Pitchfork Music Festival, where they began their set by playing the entirety of their then-new album, “Star Wars,” which had come out the day before.
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Inaugurated in 2010, Solid Sound is the broadest expression of the band’s full creative range. It’s anchored by two Wilco shows, the first of which is always a special, one-time affair. (This year it’s “Deep Cuts,” a selection of rarely played songs and, said Tweedy recently, “no hits.”) A collection of handpicked bands and musicians perform, including, this year, Miracle Legion, Dry Cleaning, and Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit.
All of the band members’ side projects perform — this year’s festival includes sets by The Autumn Defense and the Saccata Quartet, a newly formed all-improvising group that includes both Cline and Kotche. Stirratt was so taken with North Adams that in 2018, he became part of an ownership group that renovated a disused motor lodge and turned it into Tourists, now one of the premier lodging places in the area. (His latest hospitality venture is Otyokwa, a refurbished camping property in Maine.)
Cline emphasized the uniqueness of a festival created not only for the band but for its many leagues of devotees. “I’m not a big fan of rock music festivals, but Solid Sound is so manageable, size-wise, and you’re in this art space — this episodic and giant and intriguing and inspiring art space.”
He remembers walking through the grounds at the first Solid Sound, and being struck, unexpectedly, by the fact that “everybody here is a huge Wilco fan. Like, everybody. And that’s not really a normal feeling when you’re walking around a few thousand people.”
Fortunately, he added, “Wilco fans are all really nice.”
SOLID SOUND
At Mass MoCA, North Adams, June 28-30. www.solidsoundfestival.com
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