The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour wrapped up its first season ever without in-person audiences at Off Square Books. The show, bowing to Covid-19 restrictions, put together each broadcast in-studio with host Jim Dees interviewing authors by phone and using recorded musical performances, including those by the show’s house band, the Yalobushwhackers (above). Now,…
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Suzi Quatro, 70 years young, with 55 million records sold and half a century of rock and roll under her leather jumpsuit, is the perfect guest for Halloween. She can’t be scared. She can’t be tricked and doesn’t need your treat. She’s fearless with the ‘Bring it’ energy of a prize fighter about to…
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In our cookie-cutter world where gratification is instant (depending on your service provider), it’s refreshing to know that Freeman Vines is out there taking individuality to the limit – and beyond. For 50 years in and around his Fountain, North Carolina home he has hand-carved guitars with a planer. Using an electric planer, the job…
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The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will start its fall 2020 season with more listeners than ever. The Oxford, MS-based music and literature show has announced it will now be heard on WUTC at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and on WYXR, a new public radio station debuting Oct. 1 in Memphis. The…
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Natasha Trethewey, former Mississippi and US Poet Laureate, is our author this Saturday (8-1) on The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour. Our phone interview was recorded last week and man, she’s a sweetheart and a heavyweight, a case of gracious gravitas. Hear the show this Saturday as we kick off an all-star August of shows. Although…
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The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, the Oxford, MS-based music and literature program, has announced a fundraising drive to offset revenue lost during the ongoing COVID-19 virus pandemic. “We were forced to cancel our summer tour of cities around the state,” Thacker producer Alice Pierotti said in a statement. “This has resulted in an exponential decrease…
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The Board of Directors of The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour has issued the following statement regarding events surrounding the May 25, 2020 homicide of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota: “The Board of Directors of The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour would like to express our solidarity with the protests now occurring around the world against injustices…
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Soul and country music have a long, shared kinship going back to artists such as Arthur Alexander, Ray Charles and even “Ode to Billie Joe’s,” Bobbie Gentry. This week (Saturday, May 23) on Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, our author is Jim Weatherly, a Grammy-winning member of the country-soul family, even if he didn’t plan…
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The news this week that Christone “Kingfish” Ingram won five Blues Awards against top-tier competition in Memphis, including emerging artist and album of the year, made us here at Thacker Mountain Radio Hour beam like proud god parents. Obviously, we take zero credit for Kingfish’s accomplishments, but everyone who has dealt with this young man…
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In the old days, radio hosts would be first on the non-essential chopping block. Their bar tabs alone. Now, during a global pandemic, with nothing to announce, no guests to host, radio hosts are deader than a spread sheet. I should know. Yesterday I interviewed a dog. Problem: I don’t have a dog. Enter technology…
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