So. Central Rain, Leave, Untitled

You may have seen our guest, Jonathan Spencer, in Pineapple Express, Shameless, Gilmore Girls, Mad Men, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia...or you may have seen him on stage as a standup comedian. But music was one of his earliest passions, and he continues to explore it with his band The Slightly Famous Somebodies. We're premiering their cover of R.E.M.'s "So. Central Rain" on this episode. Jonathan has long been a fixture of the Athens music scene, and has even played with Peter Buck. He shares a lot of fascinating Athens lore as we dig into one of R.E.M.'s earliest songs about loss and regret. Chris sees similar themes in a song released sixteen years later, "Leave," from New Adventures in Hi-Fi. And Will claims that "Untitled" from Green (hidden track?) may actually be his single favorite R.E.M. song.

Links:
So. Central Rain / R.E.M.
So. Central Rain live on The Late Show (1983)
Leave / R.E.M.
Leave (Alternate Version) / R.E.M.
Untitled / R.E.M.
R.E.M. / Drivin' n' Cryin'
Left of the Dial / The Replacements

Our theme music is composed by Jared Duran
Our podcast was named by Will Hodge
Artwork by Chris Ayers
Athens train trestle photo by Joab Jackson