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Sense of Place: How Athens' 40 Watt Club helped usher in a new era of rock
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When you look at the Wikipedia page for the 40 Watt Club, in the very first line, it's grouped in with CBGB and the Whiskey a Go Go as one of the most influential music venues in the early punk and new wave scenes. But here's the thing: CBGB was in New York City; Whisky a Go Go is in LA. The 40 Watt Club is in Athens, Ga., population about 130,000.
That should give you an idea of just how important the 40 Watt is. A launching pad for Athens bands like R.E.M. and Drive-By Truckers, the venue has long been a central hub for the local music scene, but it also welcomes artists from far and wide who come back again and again.
In this session, longtime owner Barrie Buck talks about hosting bands like Nirvana and The Replacements, plus she shares what makes 40 Watt so special on this dispatch from our Sense of Place: Athens series.
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.
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