A Big Band Comes To A Small Town: R.E.M. on Mountain Stage at 25

When R.E.M. appeared on NPR‘s Mountain Stage on April 28, 1991, they were one of the biggest bands in the world. Though when they released Out of Time, in March of that year, they decided against touring behind it, opting for media appearances instead. One of these appearances was Mountain Stage.

25 years later, that spring weekend has become legendary in Charleston, West Virginia, when a big band visited a small town.

Their Mountain Stage set is being commercially released for the first time as part of an expansive reissue of the band’s critically acclaimed album Out of Time. The Mountain Stage recording will make up the third disc of the four-disc Deluxe Edition.

To mark the occasion for ourselves, we’ve compiled stories of the weekend into “A Big Band Comes To A Small Town: R.E.M. on Mountain Stage at 25.” We’ll hear from Mountain Stage founders Larry Groce and Andy Ridenour, music journalist Annie Zaleski (who wrote the liner notes for the Out of Time reissue, who explains why the band didn’t tour), and of course, members of the Mountain Stage audience that night in 1991.