Athens Potluck

by Jason Thrasher

Athens Potluck is a “stream of consciousness” body of work, focused on the widely varied music scene of Athens, Georgia. Thrasher selected the first musician for the series, Laura Carter of Elf Power and the Orange Twin Collective, photographed her, and asked her five questions; Laura then chose and posed her questions to Will Hart, of Olivia Tremor Control, who chose Julian Koster of Neutral Milk Hotel, and so on. Most recently, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. interviewed Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead and Bright Eyes. Jason photographs each musician at home or in the studio, along with his or her questions, which have been written variously on vinyl records, album covers, on books and in works of art, for the next artist. The series has veered from the E-6 Collective to rock, to traditional old-time music, to punk, to country and back to indie again, with musicians driving the project forward as they literally pass the baton from one to the next. Athens Potluck is a glimpse into the richly diverse and oft secretive Athens music scene, spawned decades ago by R.E.M., Pylon and the B-52s.

Genres: Music

424 pages, Hardcover

Published September 1, 2017

Reviews

[Spencer Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite things, ever. Really captures the spirit of the Athens music, club, bar, restaurant scene. It's like being at a party and finding out all my friends are there and discovering a couple of bands that I hadn't heard. It's a must for Athens insiders, but it's a wonderful discovery for the curious. I am kind of jealous of those, because it's going to lead to a rabbithole of discovering some amazing music.