S-Town

S-Town is a groundbreaking narrative podcast from Serial Productions and This American Life that defies easy categorization. Created by producer Brian Reed, the seven-episode series begins when an Alabama man named John B. McLemore contacts Reed to investigate a rumored murder in his small hometown of Woodstock, Alabama. What starts as a murder mystery quickly evolves into something far more complex, surprising, and emotionally profound: a meditation on time, mortality, beauty, decay, and the hidden depths of a brilliant, troubled man living in a place that seems to have forgotten him. Brian Reed spent years getting to know John B. McLemore before the story took an unexpected turn that transformed the entire project into something no one could have predicted. The podcast's masterful storytelling weaves together themes of mental health, sexuality, small-town life, environmental degradation, and the meaning of craftsmanship, all centered on one of the most unforgettable characters in audio storytelling. S-Town was downloaded over 40 million times in its first week alone, making it one of the most successful podcast launches in history.