NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — To say that singer-songwriter/guitarist Julia Steiner is excited to see her band Ratboys share the stage with Wilco at this weekend's Solid Sound Festival is an understatement of generous proportions. "I've seen Wilco play many times.
I'm a huge fan," said Steiner by phone this week from Chicago, a home base they share with their alt-rock heroes. "They're probably my favorite band, if I'm really gonna pick one, and we've never played with them. We were booked to open for them on one of their tours (in 2020), but obviously that didn't end up happening.
So, we're so excited to just be on the same lineup." The festival, curated and headlined by Wilco, began in 2010 and has since become a biennial staple at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, better known as MASS MoCA. Few festivals measure up to Solid Sound's diverse programming of rock, jazz, indie and experimental artists.
This year's musical lineup features Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit, Dry Cleaning, Nick Lowe & Los Straitjackets, Courtney Marie Andrews, Wednesday, Water From Your Eyes and many more. Additionally, Solid Sound offers some of the most unique non-musical programming at any festival, such as live podcasts, comedy, live painting and art exhibitions, screenprinting demos, pop-up record stores and children's programming. "Their festival seems extremely fun, with more going on than the normal music festival," Steiner said.
"We're excited to just dive in and do everything we can." That .
