Kick off Double Decker Arts Festival weekend!
Live show! TV Taping! Thursday, April 23, 2026 – 6 pm – Powerhouse Arts Center, 413 S. 14th Street, Oxford, MS
FREE Admission! Be a part of our TV audience!
**NOTE: This show will be filmed by Mississippi Public Broadcasting Television for telecast later this year.**
Doors: 5:00 pm – Thacker Members Happy Hour – Food, drinks, raffle!
Doors: General public – 5:30 pm – Frosty Refreshments
Show: 6 pm
Guests:
Willy Vlautin – The Left and the Lucky (Harper) – Latest novel from “one of America’s greatest storytellers.” Uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors (Book signing 7 pm following show)
DC Berry Prize winner – Winning poem/prose from annual contest
Music: Epic Funk Brass Band – High energy big brass!
Music: RB Morris – Songwriter That’s How Every Empire Falls (covered by John Prine)
Hosts: Jim Dees with our house band, Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers
Airtimes:
Thursday, April 23 – 6 pm (CT) WUMS 92.1 University of Mississippi
Wednesday, April 29 – 10 pm (ET) WUTC 88.1 FM Chattanooga, TN
Thursday, April 30 – 8 am (CT) WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN.
Saturday, April 25
5 pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9 pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
Sunday, April 26
3 pm (ET) WUOT | 91.9 FM, Knoxville
2 pm (MT) KNCE 93.5 | Taos, New Mexico
6 pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
Archived here: Thacker Mountain Radio Hour – WYXR | 91.7 FM | MEMPHIS
Willy Vlautin, “one of America’s great storytellers,” is back with his latest novel, The Left and the Lucky (Harper).
The book is a heartbreaking and tender story of a young boy in danger of slipping through society’s cracks and the unlikely father figure who takes him under his wing.
“Readers will fall in love with this ode to a struggling community… a surprisingly uplifting tale of neighbors helping neighbors while eking out a living in Portland, OR.” – Publisher’s Weekly (Starred review)
Willy Vlautin is the author of the novels The Motel Life, Northline, Lean on Pete, The Free, Don’t Skip Out on Me, The Night Always Comes, and The Horse. He is the founding member of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines.
Epic Funk Brass Band is a high-energy New Orleans style second-line brass band hailing from Jackson, MS.
Their latest singles are Twisted Healing and Box Truck.
Together since 2016, the group draws inspiration from Rebirth Brass Band, Hot 8 Brass Band, and New Breed Brass Band and has developed a sound that blends traditional brass band music with a contemporary funk twist.
Don’t make us dance!
RB Morris is a songwriter, poet and playwright from Knoxville, Tennessee.
His recent albums include Live Shots from Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s (Live), and Going Back To the Sky, which includes the single, Me and My Wife Ruth.
Poetry books include Early Fires (Iris Press), Keeping The Bees Employed, and The Mockingbird Poems (Rich Mountain Bound).
Morris is the author/performer of a one-man play based on the life of (fellow Knoxvillian), James Agee, The Man Who Lives Here Is Loony.
RB Morris is a member of the East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame and lives in Knoxville with his wife and daughter.
