Combo Corner

Abstract

During the 1980s, North Carolina was a major outpost for that era’s college-radio alternative music. And Ground Zero was Reynolds High School in Winston-Salem, which Mitch Easter and other major players attended. Easter and his friends Chris Stamey had been making recordings since childhood, developing studio smarts they applied to music. Working out of a garage studio in his parents’ home, Easter became one of the key producers of the decade, especially for his work with R.E.M.