Overview: While still driven by the powerful music of the Athens scene, the new film traces the rise of a political movement in Athens-Clarke County and how it (along with many other groups within Georgia, of course) has filtered out, impacting the region and most recently arrived at the very forefront of this national moment!

DVD Verdict: Led by the success of the B-52’s and R.E.M., Athens, Georgia was the most happening music scene in the country by the mid-80’s.

Following several different bands from different genres, Athens Inside-Out 2: Red Turns Into Blue rightfully, and deservedly paints the wonderful county in Georgia as a magical artistic environment, where bands are not in competition, but co-exist in harmony.

Musical performances by Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s, Drive By Truckers, Kishi Bashi, Mariah Parker AKA Linqua Franqa, Pylon Reenactment Society (with Vanessa Briscoe Hay), Oh-Ok, Elf Power, Nihilist Cheerleader, David Barbe with New Madrid, Happyness with Peter Fancher and more.

This sequel to the 1987 original, Athens, Ga Inside-Out, goes a long way, and takes some deep dives to ultimately continue to trace the rise of a political movement in Athens-Clarke County from back in the day; and does so in some extraordinary fashion, it has to be said.

As we watch along for the 100+ minutes of simply engrossing TV, it is very noticeable that whilst still driven by the powerful music of the Athens scene, this sophomore effort’s desire to track the aforementioned rise of a political movement in Athens-Clarke County was more to the forefront than the original.

And whilst this follow-up still features music — notably Pylon Reenactment Society, Drive-By Truckers, Linqua Franqa, Oh-OK and Cindy Wilson of the B-52’s - overall one should be aware going in that the documentary is far more slanted toward being just that: something focused heavily on the Athens politico-social landscape.

Created and obviously brought out due to the fact that Athens in the 21st century bears little resemblance to that of the late 20th century entity that grew urbanly and thrived inwardly, this more political-skewed landscape that it resides under is one most definitely now one shone on by a spotlight of love and determination here in the sequel.

This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.