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R.E.M.'s hometown of Athens, Ga., still welcomes fans 45 years after the band started there

R.E.M. played its first concert there in 1980 and still draws fans to its hometown. A visit to Athens can be like a pilgrimage of the band's music.

toggle caption Melanie Peeples "We are standing here at the site of Saint Mary's Episcopal church," says Paul Butchart, who gives tours to people from all over the world, who come here for one reason. " toggle caption This is the exact space where Wuxtry employee Peter Buck met a customer named Michael Stipe, who kept coming back to buy cool records. toggle caption Melanie Peeples Half a mile down the way from Weaver's restaurant maybe the most iconic REM landmark of them all: The Murmur Trestle, an old wooden railroad bridge immortalized ina black and white, pure Southern Gothic photo on the back cover of their 1983 album.

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