Wilco & Billy Bragg To Perform ‘Mermaid Avenue’ Live For 1st Time At Solid Sound 2026

In 1998, Wilco and Billy Bragg released Mermaid Avenue, a collaborative album consisting of songs using the late Woody Guthrie’s unpublished lyrics. For the first time ever, Wilco and Bragg will come together to bring Mermaid Ave to life at a special set scheduled for Wilco’s 2026 Solid Sound festival.

Solid Sound 2026 returns to MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts on June 26 – 28. The rest of the lineup of artists joining Wilco at next year’s event will be revealed at a later date.

The Mermaid Avenue project began in 1995 when Guthrie’s daughter Nora Guthrie recruited Bragg to help sort through the trove of unpublished lyrics Woody left following his death in 1967 at age 55. Bragg brought Wilco into the project and the first collaborative Mermaid Avenue album arrived in 1998.

“The world needs all the Woody Guthrie it can get,” Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy said. “We’re thrilled that we get to bring these songs to life with Billy.”

Despite subsequent volumes released in 2000 and 2012, outside of occasional onstage collaborations, Wilco and Bragg never toured together behind any of the Mermaid Avenue records. The project produced several staples of both Wilco and Bragg’s live sets, such as “California Stars,” “Hoodoo Voodoo,” “Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key,” “Airline To Heaven,” and “Secret Of The Sea.”

“There’s an abiding love out there for the Mermaid Avenue albums,” Bragg added. “So I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with Wilco to bring Woody’s words to life once again.”​

Tickets to Solid Sound 2026 are on sale now.