Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy Play REM’s Murmur
Words by Mickey McCarter
Photos by Steve Satzberg

Let me first say that I know very little about REM, the jangle rock musicians who burst out of Athens, Georgia, despite being a musical child of the ’80s. I do know the work of actor Michael Shannon, a fellow scion of Gen X who wasn’t even 10 years old when REM dropped their debut full-length album, Murmur, in 1983.

And so I went to see Michael and musician Jason Narducy perform songs by REM in a recent sold-out show at Black Cat with a simple question on my mind: Was Michael Shannon there to “play the role” of Michael Stipe? Or was he just a guy so moved by the music that he wanted to share his love of REM in performance?

The answer turns out to truly be the latter, as Michael Shannon presented just as a humble and ordinary guy who really has mad respect for the early days of REM. He recruited not only his friend Jason Narducy, best known for his punk work in Verboten and in recent years for working with Bob Mould and Superchunk.

Michael and Jason began their seven-date tour in Minneapolis, and their second date was in Athens itself, where they performed at the legendary 40 Watt Club with the band members of REM in the audience (and occasionally on stage for a number). That alone should serve as enough of a seal of approval for most folks. And on Feb. 10 at Black Cat in DC, Michael and Jason demonstrated their earnest love for these songs in a sold-out show that was cheerily embraced by other people who really love the early days of REM.

On paper, it sounded like an odd idea: a famous actor would play college radio music from a time when he was young. In reality, it was an authentic and sincere frontman who sang the songs very well with true care and ethusiasm.

Watch Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy discuss their covers of REM with Seth Meyers on YouTube:

At Black Cat, Michael and Jason played through the 12 tracks of Murmur, opening with “Radio Free Europe.” Their cover of “9-9” gained particularly robust applause with Michael’s acknowledgement that REM “stopped playing the song because it was too hard.”

To Murmur, Michael and Jason added a 13th track, a cover of “There She Goes Again” by the Velvet Underground because they read on Wikipedia that the band originally intended to record the cover for the album. When they met REM in Athens, however, the band told Michael that was never really under consideration. “Don’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia!” Michael quipped on stage at Black Cat.

Michael and Jason then covered the five tracks of REM’s Chronic Town EP and *another* five songs. They returned for an encore of seven additional songs that included a grab bag of REM favorites like “Driver 8,” “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville,” and “Finest Worksong.”

Throughout the show, Michael expressed his admiration for the musicians who joined him on stage, including of course Jason (guitar), Nick Macri (bass), Dag Juhlin (guitar), Jon Wurster (drums) and Vijay Tellis-Nayak (keys). All six gents played together as smooth, well-oiled machine.

Michael Shannon and Jason Narducy closed their REM tour in Brooklyn on Valentine’s Day. Given that I don’t believe they ever reached later than 1987’s Document, there is a lot of room for these guys to reprise an early REM show on a longer tour or even to reach into the songs that broke REM into mainstream success. I can only imagine a tour that included songs like “Stand,” “Crush,” and “Losing My Religion” would play massively well.

At Black Cat, musical comedian Dave Hill opened the show, which I feel like is a choice only Michael Shannon could have made and have it actually work. Dave got people in the mood for some rock and roll, and he was cheeky, weird, and uninhibited while doing so. Dave began has seven-song opening set with “Caveman in a Spaceship” and then covered Danzig’s “Mother.” He rambled a lot and played snippets of songs at audience request. After performing “Dollar Tree,” his most humorous turn of the night came with “Pickup Lines That Will Only Work in Washington, DC,” which included such knockout lyrics as “Are you the WMATA blue line originating in Franconia-Springfield and terminating in downtown Largo? Because I would like to ride you free of charge.” You get the idea.

Here are some photos of David Hill opening Michael Shannon and Dave Narducy at Black Cat on Feb. 10, 2024. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.

Here are some photos of Michael Shannon, Dave Narducy, and friends at Black Cat on Feb. 10, 2024. All pictures copyright and courtesy of Steve Satzberg.