The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour returns to the Neshoba County Fair on Saturday, July 22 at 8 pm at the Founder’s Square Pavilion. Guests will include Memphis blues powerhouse John Nemeth, undercover agent-turned-author Charlie Spillers and pop-rock songwriter Coco Hames. The show is hosted by Jim Dees and house band, the Yalobushwhackers.
No live broadcast. This show will air on Saturday, July 29 at 7 pm on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour is heard in Neshoba County every Saturday at 7 pm on WMAW 88.1 FM.
Following the radio show, John Nemeth and his band, the Blue Dreamers, will perform a one hour set from 9-10 pm.
Charlie Spillers is the author of Confessions of an Undercover Agent: Adventures, Close Calls, and the Toll of a Double Life (University Press of Mississippi). The book chronicles Spiller’s true-life exploits as an ex-Marine undercover cop, narcotics agent, and federal prosecutor and his years of crime fighting and narrow escapes. Spillers dealt with a remarkable variety of career criminals, including heroin traffickers, safecrackers, burglars, auto thieves, and members of Mafia and Mexican drug smuggling operations. And he lives to tell about it.
John Nemeth is a soul/blues powerhouse harmonica player and vocalist based in Memphis. His newest CD, Feeling Freaky, was released in May and is produced by Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars. One critic wrote the album has the “hip coolness of the ’50s and ’60s blues with all the modern conveniences.” Nemeth’s 2015 CD, Memphis Grease, won the 2015 Best Soul Blues Album awarded by the Memphis Blues Foundation. This year, Nemeth is nominated for the prestigious B.B. King Entertainer of the Year Award.
Coco Hames, former frontwoman for garage-pop combo The Ettes, has just released her debut album, Coco Hames, on Merge Records. She co-produced the album with Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff). The sound reflects her love of big guitars, retro beats and classic vocalists such as Dusty Springfield, Patsy Cline, and Bobbie Gentry. Hames embarks on a European tour in August.
