The Legendary Athens Music Scene

While not quite the size of its nearby Southern city of Atlanta, the “quiet” little college town of Athens, Georgia has for decades been the progenitor and steadfast home of many an internationally influential band–perhaps most famously, REM, the B52s, and Widespread Panic–giving this small downtown near the University of Georgia campus the nickname, “the Liverpool of the South,” for the impact, influence, and talent that seems to sprout and grow like the infamously stubborn Southern vine known as Kudzu.

The confluence of great venues like the 40 Watt, the great Georgia Theatre, and Caledonia Lounge, along with WUOG University of Georgia college radio, local record shops like Wuxtry and labels like Kindercore have, over the years, brewed an intoxicating and somehow-in-the-moment-nostalgic libation sure to thrill and inspire you.