In Williamstown, Images Cinema is about to emerge from a year of construction chrysalis with double the theaters and a wealth of other improvements. We head to the northern Berkshires to see the changes first hand and get a tour of the details from a member of their board who helped to design the upgrade, Matt Brogan, better known as the cider maker of Berkshire Cider Project. 

Now that July is firmly upon us, the berries are all out, and at one of the biggest farms in the 4 counties, they’re cultivating better plants for the climate changes to come. Nourse Farms in Whately provides strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry plants for farms all over the country, and fresh fruit for us lucky residents of western Mass, and we get a tour of their massive facilities and a taste of their bounty with CEO John Place, and Chief Administrative Officer Rachael Monette.

Plus Word Nerd Emily Brewster, Senior Editor at Merriam Webster, walks us through one of the trickier practies of the English Language, where the soft sounds lay in schwas, and how they pop up in words we use regularly. 

We eke out a Mayor of the Month for June with Jennifer Macksey of North Adams, amidst the chaos of Solid Sound. We hear how this year is going, the effect that the festival has on the businesses and more in their downtown area, and some of the ways the city might see traffic change in the years ahead

Mount Holyoke College maintained a robust summer stock theater program for decades. After a 25yr dormancy, the program returns to the South Hadley campus to perform two fun family friendly mysteries. We speak with program revitalizer and director of the first production; Noah Ilya-Alexis Tuleja, an alum of the program himself, about bringing a more realistic theater experience back to campus. 

And a last pride story for June as we head to the hilltowns to discover a brand new school tailored for the experiences and needs of LGBTQIA2S+ youth. The J.S. Bryant School is a year round theraputic high school nestled in Cummington, and we speak with founder and school head Allison Druin about their methodology, and challenges

 Mark Greenberg is the studio manager and part of the production team at The Loft, Wilco’s Chicago recording studio and HQ. He composes and produces music for film, television, and video games through his own studio, the Mayfair Recordings Workshop. 

A long-time contributor and advocate of art and music in Chicago, Mark was the assistant talent booker at Lounge Ax, headed the team that built the physical aspects of Art Chicago at Navy Pier, was a founding member of the Coctails, and continues to play and record with Eleventh Dream Day among others. 

He's also one of our favorite people to hang out with every other year, so before Wilco's Saturday concert of originals at this year's Solid Sound Festival, Monte had a chance to sit with him and hear how the music is going. 

In a brand new collection from Restless Books, it’s made apparent that we as a country have been trying to figure out our relationship with the divine for centuries. A Nation Wrestles with God: American Prophets, Philosophers and Firebrands is a collection of writings from before this was a western recognized nation to to present day and we speak with editor Ilan Stavans and contributor Reza Aslan about the ways the untied states have engaged with and without religion. 

This past weekend one of the most lauded guests at Wilco’s every other year festival was a surprise to Solid Sound attendees. Natalie Merchant was all over the festival, performing pop-ups, and comedy, and sitting in on sets over all three days. We chatted with her about her history with the project, and her musical education work including her project with the Chicago Symphony: Mother Goose & the Cabinet of Wonder.  

And Mr. Universe, Kainaat Studios' Salman Hameed, is fresh off a trip to the southwest and returns to relate how our approach to the Grand Canyon gives a lot of insight to the ways people lay claim to the Moon. 

It’s that time again. 

The time every other year that fans of a very specific Chicago band head east to North Adams

Solid Sound 9 is happening this weekend in the Berkshires, and today we’re at Mass MoCA to capture it.

So as we ready to hear Mermaid Avenue for the first time ever live in concert with both Wilco and Billy Bragg, we’ll talk to some of the multi-hyphenate members of that band about this festival and their many other projects, including a documentary from keyboardist Mikael Jorgenson, and a sound art installation from drummer Glenn Kotche.

We’ll talk music with Sima Cunningham of Finom, I Hear Voices, Postock, and many other musical ensembles about the pop-ups she’s involved with all weekend, and Jeff Tweedy himself about the importance of performing Mermaid Avenue at this moment.

Plus the curator of the festival’s comedy cabaret, and former W. Mass resident himself, John Hodgman gives us a preview of the funny folx headed to the air conditioned portion of the weekend, and what hijinx helps to bring comedians to the northern Berskhires.

A rewind to last weekend at the Green River Festival where we’ll hear the warm bass tones of the Amherst based bassist Deja Carr better known to the world as Mal Devisa. We’ll get a glimpse into Deja’s creative process and revel in her performance under the Grandstands at the Franklin County Fairgrounds

And US Congressman Jim McGovern gives us his take on what went on with Trump’s alleged temper-tantrum where he refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill. And if the Democratic Social Mayor Mamdani effect, that swept through NY primaries this week, will have any implications for Democratic primaries closer to home.

We are getting people together for artistic endeavors no matter how harrowing it may be. 

Off to Westhampton, where one of the many studios that is part of the pottery collective the Hilltown 6 lays nestled by a waterfall. The artists who make up the group are hosting a workshop at Easthampton Clay this weekend and opening up their respective workplaces for a tour later in July. Potters Sam Taylor and Robbie Heidinger meet us to talk about the ceramics scene of western mass and more. 

In Amherst just outside of the UMass campus is an important lifeline to folx of Hampshire and Franklin counties. The Amherst Survival Center is much more than just a food pantry, addressing the growing needs of the public. We get a tour of their daily work with director Carleen Basler, hear a bit of how their services have changed, and learn how you can support them at a benefit concert this weekend. 

And word Nerd Emily Brewster knows we might be a bit stressed out by language sometimes, and especially with a deeper look at wrack with a w versus rack without one and how their meanings are kinda tied together.

We head north, to Northfield where a farm segued into beer-making, while supplying a much needed crop for the northeast. Four Star Farm has been growing hops of various varieties well before they conjured up their own brewery and we chat with brewer Chris Sellers about his journey from Poli-Sci to agricultural and local product advocate among the hop bines. 

Speaking of growing things, young artists are budding along with their creative parents. The exhibit Imaginary Friends is a collaboration of 11 artist parents with their children to create work together and spans from the small, to the interactable, and even to video projects in their ongoing question of how to maintain one’s craft with and after kids. We crash their installation process, getting a glimpse of what the public might see at their opening tonight. 

And musician, artist, folklorist, and more Mica Farias Gomez joined us for one of our Green River Festival pop-ups this past weekend. We’ll hear  the sounds of her incredible journey into her native Argentina and across south America, and with her co-conspirator Manuel Uriona about their connections to Double Edge Theater, and the liberation we’re all seeking.

We head to a new exhibit in Holyoke that’s helping newer artists explore their craft, and the anniversary of this nation with more experienced artists in the area. Valley Arts Mentors branched out of Piti Theater, but has grown to encompass many ways that we all tell stories including visual arts. This year’s cohort of mentors and mentees have recently opened an exhibit Revolutionary Artstories: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Equity, which we explore along with the artists who’ve made the work on display. 

The Green River Festival happened this past weekend, but if you think about festivals you've been to, how are their lineups looking in terms of gender diversity? Book More Women is an upcoming soon to be non-profit that started as an instagram project and has evolved into a full on movement, in which the Green River festival has partnered. We speak with founder Abbey Carbonneau about starting the organization, what her data has shown so far, and the struggles of getting other organizations to recognize their blind spots. 

Plus after running around all weekend we get to talk a little bit about our highlights from the festival as well. 

Today is a day to celebrate freedom and music, because it’s Juneteenth, but it’s also the first day of the Green River Festival

So we’re combining those two things for a live broadcast straight from the mainstage at the Franklin County Fairgrounds

In addition to a celebration of freedom for all, we’ll hear insights and music from some of the amazing artists performing as part of the this year’s line up: including last year’s NPR tiny desk winner Ruby Ibarra, who has ties to one of rock’s godmothers locally and internationally in June Millington, the musical legacy of Swamp Dogg, whose created and produced music of too many genres to mention, and whose influence reaches into many other artistic arenas as well. Plus we’ll get to meet one of the first guests this show ever had with the heartfelt lyrics and intrepid fingerpicking of Sunny War. 

And we’ll give you a quick history of the holiday we’re all celebrating as well.