The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour returns to live shows on Thursday, March 24 at 5:30 pm at The Lyric Oxford. The show will be part of the Oxford Film Festival and will feature Oxford author/screenwriter Michael Farris Smith, The Stax Academy 926 Alumni Band of Memphis, and indie R&B duo, Pink Palaces.
On Thursday, March 31, the show will perform live at Harrison’s 1810 as part of The Oxford Conference for the Book. That show will feature National Book Award–winner Jason Mott (Hell of A Book). Admission is free and both shows are open to the public.
Leading up to March 26, the show will broadcast a series of in-studio programs beginning with Thursday, March 3 at 6 pm. Guests will include author Chris Offutt (The Killing Hills) and musical acts Eric Deaton and blues slide guitarist, Ghalia Volt.
The show will perform live on Saturday, March 5 at 3 pm in Cleveland, Mississippi, on the campus of Delta State University.
For the months of April and May, the show will broadcast from the Old Armory Pavilion on the corner of Bramlett and University Avenue. Admission is free to all shows and lawn chairs and picnics are encouraged. A signature cocktail will be for sale to benefit Thacker and the YAC arts council with food trucks expected to be added.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour can be heard every Thursday at 6 pm on WUMS (92.1 FM in Oxford) and online: https://onlineradiobox.com/us/wums/ and every Saturday night at 7 pm on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (90.3 FM in Oxford) and online: https://www.mpbonline.org/.
The show is hosted by Jim Dees and Thacker house band, The Yalobushwhackers.
Michael Farris Smith’s fourth novel, The Fighter, served as the basis for the film adaption now called, Rumble in the Dark. In an unusual move, the filmmakers hired Smith to write the screenplay and also agreed to film the movie in Mississippi. The film has been completed and is awaiting a release date.
The Thursday, March 31 show at Harrison’s 1810 (located at 1210 Harrison Avenue, directly behind Off Square Books) will mark the first time The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour has performed there. In addition to National Book Award winner, Mott, the show will feature author Nathan Harris (winner of the Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction), poet Kendra Allen and Fat Possum recording artist, Thomas Dollbaum.
Old Armory Pavilion shows resume on Thursday, April 7 at 6 pm with author Tara Stringfellow and her lively debut novel, Memphis. On Thursday, April 21 the show will kick off Double Decker weekend with a special show at the Armory Pavilion. The spring season at the Pavilion will run through Thursday, May 26.
This summer, the show expects to hit the road with planned shows in Clinton, Tupelo, the Neshoba County Fair, Mississippi Book Festival, and Ocean Springs at the Walter Anderson Museum. Frequent updates to the spring/summer schedule will be posted at: https://thackermountain.com/.
