David Wright Faladé is author of the novel, The New Internationals (Atlantic Monthly Press). The book tells the story of an unlikely love triangle—between a Holocaust survivor, a Sorbonne student from colonial West Africa, and a black GI—set in the turmoil of post-WWII Paris.

Faladé is the author of the novel, Black Cloud Rising, a New York Times’ Critics Pick and one of the New Yorker’s Best Books of 2022.

His first book, the narrative history Fire on the Beach: Recovering the Lost Story of Richard Etheridge and the Pea Island Lifesavers, was one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Best Books of 2001. His second, Away Running, was named an Outstanding International Book by the US Board on Books for Young People.

Wright Faladé teaches in the MFA program at the University of Illinois.

Heavy Drunk is a Nashville-based Americana blues band led by slide guitarist (and former Mississippian) Rob Robinson. Their latest album is You Don’t Know Me.

Bill “Watermelon Slim” Homans is a slide guitarist and harmonica player who has built an international following over his long career which includes twenty-one Blues Music Award nominations. His latest release is the live album, Traveling Man.

Heavy Drunk and Watermelon Slim’s collaborative album, BluesLand Theme Park, drops this month.

The first single, Watermelon Girl, co-written by Robinson and the late Tony Joe White, is now available.

The Caribbean-flavored track was recorded at Dial Back Sound in Water Valley, MS and features our own Ricky Burkhead on steel drums.

Pretty chill video: HeavyDrunk & Watermelon Slim – Watermelon Girl (Official Music Video)

Slim and Heavy Drunk toured their new collaboration in Europe in the fall of 2024 to much fanfare.

Following their Thacker appearance, Heavy Drunk and Watermelon Slim led a full band performance at Proud Larry’s in celebration of the release of BluesLand Theme Park.

FERD is an acoustic roots trio with Mississippi Delta roots that performs a spirited blend of folk, bluegrass and blues.

The band is fiddler and former front man for the Hackensaw Boys, Ferd Moyse; East Tennessee banjoist and singer Matt Morelock and double-bassist Chris Stevens.

Their album, Feelin’ Like the Wind, is now available and includes the title track featuring Leyla McCalla.

Following their Thacker appearance, the band performed at Voyager’s Rest in Water Valley, MS.