The Inside Story of the Athens Music Scene
June 5, 2026 at 06:30PMHow did a college football town in Georgia spawn the B-52s, R.E.M., and Widespread Panic, to name just a few of the bands who’ve called Athens both home and inspiration? The maestros and misfits who led Athens’ rise to one of the world’s most influential and improbable music towns tell all in this oral history:
Mike Mills (R.E.M. bassist): There was a relatively small group of people in Athens in the late seventies, early eighties that were into the same sort of music. So naturally you all drew together. The other thing was that when they built the mall in Athens, all the big stores left downtown, so downtown was open and available for people to do whatever they wanted.
Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers singer/guitarist): That’s not to say there weren’t other cool towns and cool shit happening. But Athens was unique. Chapel Hill is Southern, but Athens is more Southern; it’s so steeped in kudzu and just weirdo shit.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2026/06/05/the-inside-story-of-the-athens-music-scene/
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