Even if the news crossed the wires where you live, you might not have noticed. Randy Bewley died this week after suffering a heart attack while driving in Athens, Ga.
Bewley was the co-founder and lead guitarist in the band Pylon, which inhabitated the same vibrant music scene as R.E.M. in the early 1980s. In fact, the band has often been heard saying that they felt humbled by their success because Pylon deserved the attention that they got.
I only really knew Pylon through R.E.M. The band covered Pylon’s “Crazy” as a B-side and on the Dead Letter Office disc. The song showed up on a few shows here and there during recent R.E.M. tours. Pylon had resumed playing together over the past few years. The first video is an R.E.M. performance from 2007 while the second one is Pylon just over six months ago with Newley on guitar.
Rest in peace, Randy.