As anyone who listens to Serial spin-off S-Town by this point knows, the podcast phenomenon is less about the titular town—real name, Woodstock, Alabama—and more about the man who gave it its scatological nickname, John B. McLemore. But, listening to McLemore’s charmingly endless ranting about his hated home, and reporter Brian Reed’s impressions of the place, it’s easy to build up a not entirely flattering portrait of the Bibb County town, population 1,428.
Now, Vulture has a run-down of how the actual people of Woodstock feel about their new-found fame, sending reporter Connor Towne O’Neill to Alabama to talk to town residents, including those who actually appeared on the show. O’Neill’s interviewees include tattoo artist Allan “Bubba” Cresswell, who recently posted a photo of some of the work he helped do on McLemore’s back, and the town’s mayor, Jeff Dodson, who was once a business partner of the cranky clockmaker’s. O’Neill also talks to a number of the town’s residents, who seem split on being seen in the same negative light with which small Southern towns are so frequently painted by the wider media, and excited by the prospect of something finally happening in Woodstock for once.