The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will open its Fall 2023 season Thursday, September 7 at 6 pm at the Graduate Hotel led by a new executive director who has extensive ties to Oxford.
Amanda Wymer, formerly from Oxford and Ocean Springs, Mississippi, took over the reins of the show in July. Though she will make her official move to Oxford later in the fall, she’ll be in attendance at the Graduate premiere to meet and greet Thacker supporters.
“This really is a homecoming for me,” Wymer declares. “My family moved to Oxford from Clarksdale before my first birthday. I grew up at the Hoka and remember my parents listening to Thacker from Off Square Books. My mother and brother live in Oxford and I have three children of my own and can’t wait to show them Oxford.”
After a stint working in the arts in San Francisco, Wymer was most recently the assistant director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. She brings extensive development and fundraising skills to her new job.
“Amanda has already made a a significant impact on the show,” notes Thacker Board President Mary Margaret Andrews. “She’s updated our Spotify, Soundcloud, and Instagram pages and put together our fall fundraising campaign. We’re very excited to have her on board.”
Guests for the September 7 season premiere will include debut novelist Irina Zhorov as well as local alt-rockers, Bark, and Delta songwriter Will Griffith, performing as The Great Dying. The show is hosted by Jim Dees and the Yalobushwhacker Big Band featuring the Thacker Horns and guest vocalist, Mary Frances Massey.
Admission is free. Doors are at 5:30 pm with bar service available. The show will be broadcast live on WUMS, 92.1 FM (online at http://myrebelradio.com/).
The show can also be heard on public and community radio stations in Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as on the stations of Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Alabama Public Radio. The show’s newest affiliate is KNCE (93.5 FM) True Taos Radio in Taos, New Mexico.
Highlights of the upcoming fall season include, father/son authors Terry and Nick McDonell (Sept. 21); author Ron Rash with a Nashville songwriters showcase presented by the Ole Miss Women’s Council at the Lyric (Sept. 28); NOLA funk rocker, Ernie Vincent (Oct. 12); Southern Studies scholar Ann Abadie (Nov. 2); Mississippi songwriter Steve Azar with author/illustrator Sarah Frances Hardy plus Memphis musicians, Amy LaVere and Will Sexton (Nov. 11) and the Season Finale on Thursday, Nov. 16 with Afrissippi and Charlie Mars.
Locations for the fall shows will rotate between the Powerhouse Arts Center (413 S 14th St), Lyric Oxford (1006 Van Buren Ave) and the lobby of the Graduate Hotel (400 N Lamar Blvd).
A frequently updated schedule is available at the show’s website https://thackermountain.org/.
The show will wrap up its 2023 schedule with their annual Holiday Membership party on Dec. 1 at Southside Art Gallery.
