Every Other Summer, a full-length documentary film about Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival, is available to buy or rent now via Vimeo On Demand. Directed by Christoph Green and Brendan Canty of Trixie Films and shot in 2013, it documents the Chicago band’s three-day music and arts gathering that takes place at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. The film’s title references how frequently the festival is held.
 
In addition to performances by Wilco, Neko Case, Yo La Tengo, The Dream Syndicate, Lucius, Foxygen, White Denim, Sam Amidon, Sean Rowe, The Relatives and more, plus appearances by comedians Reggie Watts, John Hodgman and Jen Kirkman, Every Other Summer offers a behind-the-scenes look at the festival’s utopian vibe and the impact it has had on the small Rust Belt town where it takes place.
 
“We came into the project knowing that there would be music and art in a beautiful location,” co-director Green said. “We also knew from years of working with Wilco that there is a very close bond between the band and their fans that really transcends any musician/audience relationship that we have experienced. What we really didn't expect was the way that the town itself and its people, the museum, the musicians, the volunteers and the area’s history all came together to create something sublime and beautiful.”
 
In 2013, the population of North Adams, MA was 13,533 a number that has steadily decreased for the past two decades. This year Solid Sound will bring upward of 10,000 attendees, artists and supporting personnel to The Berkshires, a number that has steadily increased with each summer.
 
"Festivals like this which don't have the bottom line as their primary motivator almost have to exist in towns like North Adams, co-director Canty said. “Long neglected by the corporate oligarchs and then abandoned by the people formerly known as the working class (now known as the unemployed), the remaining citizens are hungry for anything to come in to fill the void. MASS MoCA and the Solid Sound Festival fill that void.”
 
“When you are looking at a painting you aren’t so mesmerized by that one piece of art as much as you are by the thought that someone created it,” Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy said. “That’s the part that is inspiring and beautiful. As long as there are people making things, there will always be a community where people find what they need. Solid Sound is a part of that community.”
 
“This is a generous film: lots of great music, quirky characters and authentic sense of place,” said Joseph Thompson, Director of MASS MoCA.
 
Every Other Summer is a Trixie Films production in association with dBpm Records.
 
View a clip of Wilco performing Pavement’s “Cut Your Hair” from the band’s all-covers set at the 2013 Solid Sound Festival HERE.
 
The next Solid Sound Festival takes place next weekend, June 26-28 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. Limited quantities of three-day tickets still remain. Single-day tickets for Saturday, June 27 are sold out. Limited quantities of single-day tickets for Friday, June 26 and Sunday, June 28 remain. Tickets are available through solidsoundfestival.com.