The Shaggs are an interesting oddity in the annals of music history. They were three sisters with no musical talent who were forced to form a band due to their father’s insistence a fortune teller had predicted his daughters would form a popular music group. Their one and only album, Philosophy Of The World, is a confronting listen, but the sisters’ lack of musical ability have made them cult figures in the world of music. Now, the group are set to reunite for an incredibly rare concert performance.
Wilco have recently announced the lineup for their own Solid Sound Festival, due to take place over three days in June at The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, in north-eastern America. In addition to an amazing lineup of artists such as Kurt Vile & The Violators, Television, Tweedy, and Wilco themselves, the group have somehow managed to wrangle a performance from one of music’s most infamous groups, The Shaggs.
The Shaggs may have released their sole album in 1969, and disbanded in 1975, but the majority of their fame has come about in the last few decades. Thanks in part to rediscovery from artists such as Frank Zappa and Kurt Cobain, the group was plucked from obscurity and thrust into the limelight by music historians.
Since their disbandment in 1975, the group has only performed once, in 1999, for the 30th anniversary concert of NRBQ, whose frontman, Terry Adams, was responsible for making their sole album available again for intrigued members of the public.
While original drummer Helen Wiggins passed away in 2006, it’s not clear who will take over drumming duties for the performances, but considering the band has always been a family affair, the chances are good it will be a relation of Wiggins stepping in to pound the skins.
Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival takes place in June of this year, we aren’t too sure what to expect from a performance from The Shaggs, almost 50 years after they released their album, but you can be certain we’ll be waiting with bated breath to see what they deliver. Check out one of the group’s more well-known tracks below.
