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A Whole Other Country

Marfa Public Radio

A Whole Other Country is a new podcast from the award-winning Marfa Public Radio Studios.

Back in the ‘90s, in an off-the-grid neighborhood in the mountains of Far West Texas, a wannabe vintner started his own Wild West nation. Reporter and host Zoe Kurland drives the long, bumpy roads of the Davis Mountains to talk to a cast of neighbors and onlookers who watched the story of the standoff unfold in real time -- the myths of the frontier crashing violently into reality.

Marfa Public Radio

A Whole Other Country is a new podcast from the award-winning Marfa Public Radio Studios.

Back in the ‘90s, in an off-the-grid neighborhood in the mountains of Far West Texas, a wannabe vintner started his own Wild West nation. Reporter and host Zoe Kurland drives the long, bumpy roads of the Davis Mountains to talk to a cast of neighbors and onlookers who watched the story of the standoff unfold in real time -- the myths of the frontier crashing violently into reality.

Marfa Public Radio
2hr 22min
Thumbnail for "Episode 4: King of the Lean-To".
Thumbnail for "Episode 5: The Standoff".
Thumbnail for "Episode 3: Getting Squinky".
Thumbnail for "Episode 1: A Very Long Road".
Thumbnail for "Episode 2: Gentle and Sweet".
Thumbnail for "Welcome to A Whole Other Country".

Episode 4: King of the Lean-To

Thumbnail for "Episode 4: King of the Lean-To".
October 22, 202526min 31sec

Rick McLaren breaks ground in the DMR, and on the world wide web. It doesn’t take long for his followers to come running up the mountain. With guns. The authorities start paying attention, and local media takes note. Rick’s neighborhood grudges intensify to their breaking point. 

Flavors of this episode: fax machines, tin sheds, Thelma and Louise, rolling chairs, guns, toothless cronies, and blood on the floor. 

Reported and produced by Zoe Kurland. Edited by Liza Yeager. 

Thumbnail for "Episode 4: King of the Lean-To".
Episode 4: King of the Lean-To
00:00
26:31