On air and online: Wednesday, May 7 – Sunday, May 11 – From the Delta Music Institute (DMI), the entertainment industry program at Delta State University (DSU) in Cleveland, MS.
Our annual “Thacker in the Delta” visit serves to raise awareness for the many programs offered by DMI as well as place a spotlight on DSU’s Duff Dorrough Memorial Scholarship Fund, which is offered to students in art and music, reflecting two of Duff’s lifelong passions.
To donate: http://www.deltastategiving.org/duffdorrough
Dorrough served as the bandleader for the Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers, from 2005 until shortly before his death in 2012.
(Photo: Duff at Lyric Oxford, Dec. 2011)
Guests:
Author: Max Hipp – What Doesn’t Kill You Opens Your Heart – Debut story collection, winner 2025 Fiction Award, Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters
“Max Hipp is the last lost soldier of untenured working-class southern lit.” – Lee Durkee
Music: Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport – Teenaged blues phenom
Music: DeltaRoX– DMI student band performing classic rock from the 70’s and 80’s
Hosts: Jim Dees with Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers
Airtimes:
Wednesday, May 7 – 10 pm (ET) WUTC 88.1 FM Chattanooga, TN
Thursday, May 8 – 8 am (CT) WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN.
6 pm (CT) WUMS 92.1 University of Mississippi
Saturday, May 10 – 7 pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9 pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
Sunday, May 11
3 pm (ET) WUOT | 91.9 FM, Knoxville
2 pm (MT) KNCE 93.5 | Taos, New Mexico
Archived here: Spotify, SoundCloud, Google Podcast, iHeart Radio
The characters in Max Hipp’s debut story collection, What Doesn’t Kill You Opens Your Heart (Cool Dog Sound), howl with loneliness.
The collection won the 2025 Fiction Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.
Hipp’s characters have reached the ends of their coping mechanisms and bank accounts and are making terrible life choices and trying to recover in the wake of them.
These stories keep hitting the funny/sad notes.
“Max Hipp is the last lost soldier of untenured working-class southern lit. Unapologetically grotesque, delightfully craven, derangedly horny, and unforgivably honest, What Doesn’t Kill You… earns a spot on the shelf beside Dickey, Stanford, Portis, and Brown.”
— Lee Durkee, author of The Last Taxi Driver and Stalking Shakespeare
Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport is an 18-year-old guitarist and harmonica player from Vicksburg, MS who can legitimately be called a “blues phenomenon.”
His very first playing gig occurred in Chicago and a Facebook capture of his performance garnered an astonishing 4,000 shares.
Since then, Young Rell has proven himself to be a dexterous and inventive guitarist and a fat-toned harmonica player.
He is also an accomplished songwriter currently working on his debut album.
Meanwhile, Young Rell will have a busy spring/summer appearing at such events as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as well as blues festivals in Belgium and the Netherlands.
DeltaRoX, a student band from the Delta Music Institute, performs classic rock hits from the 70’s and 80’s.
The band has performed at DSU Pig Pickin’, DSU Homecoming, the MAC Conference, Crosstie Arts & Jazz Festival, Octoberfest, and at Tootsie’s, Douglas Corner Cafe and Airport Grocery.
The group has also been featured on past episodes of Thacker Mountain Radio Hour.
