Join us for a very special Thacker Mountain Radio Hour. As part of Oxford’s Conference For the Book, we will feature three fantastic authors: Preston Lauterbach (Beale Street Dynasty), Kent Russell (I Am Sorry to Think I Raised a Timid Child), and David Vann (Aquarium). With music by visual artist and musician Lonnie Holley (and Marshall Ruffin) and a special appearance by singer/songwriter Claire Holley.
And, mark your calendar for the Member’s Only Happy Hour before this show upstairs at the Lyric Theater from 5:00pm – 6:00pm. Drinks and snacks for all Thacker Mountain members. Free for current members (or join/renew to attend).
As always, the show is hosted by Jim Dees and our house band, The Yalobushwhackers fronted by the one and only John Paul Keith.
Preston Lauterbach’s newest book is Beale Street Dynasty (Norton) a colorful and thoroughly- researched history of Memphis’s famous street of music, madams and mayhem. The book is “an uproarious and sometimes shocking jaunt through Memphis history.” His previous book was the well-received history of early soul music, The Chitlin’ Circuit: And the Road to Rock and Roll. Lauterbach lives near Charlottesville, Virginia.
Kent Russell’s hilarious debut collection of essays is I Am Sorry To Think I Have Raised A Timid Son (Knoft). One reviewer wrote, “As close as we’re going to get to the second coming of Hunter S. Thompson when it comes to full-on gonzo passionate observation and self-loathing transmuted into social criticism.”
David Vann’s newest novel, Aquarium (Atlantic Monthly Press) is an “elegant, heart-wrenching” coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old girl’s troubled family life that “reads like a first-class detective novel.” Vann was born in Alaska and now teaches at the University of Warwick in England.
Lonnie Holley is a visual artist from Atlanta who has just released his first musical CD, Keepin a Record of It (Dust-to-Digital). Noting his haunting vocals and funky keyboards, The New York Times said, “his music has a fragile, anachronistic beauty and unhinged weirdness.”
Ruffin, who will accompany Holley, is a Decatur, GA based guitarist/songwriter, with two EPs Rich Man’s Dime (2007) and Morning Glory (2009).
Claire Holley is a singer/songwriter from Jackson, Miss. now based in Los Angeles. Her upcoming CD, to be released June 2, is Time in the Middle. Holley’s songwriting reflects her southern upbringing and this region’s strong tradition of storytelling. In 2014, Holley won the Miss. Institute of Arts and Letters award for contemporary music. Her previous releases include the single, Mariachi Band and six CDs including, See Rock City and Hush.
