Saturday, Aug 7 – The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour takes you into the magic (and healing powers) of the natural world, plus the soulful sounds of America, old and new! (From October 2020).
Guests: Author Aimee Nezhukumatahil, multi-instrumentalist and Grammy winner, Dom Flemons and southern songwriter Skylar Gregg
Hosts: Jim Dees and our house band, the Yalobushwhackers
Air times: Online and on air
Saturday. Aug 7 – 7pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
3 pm (ET) WUTC 88.1 FM – University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Thursdays 6 pm (CT) WUMS 92.1FM – University of Mississippi
Fridays 9 am WYXR 91.7FM – Memphis Community Radio
Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of the memoir World of Wonders – In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments (Milkweed Editions). This debut work of nonfiction–a collection of essays about the natural world – lovingly describes how the inhabitants of that world can teach, support, and inspire us.
World of Wonders was recently named a finalist for the Kirkus Prize in non-fiction.
In its announcement, the committee wrote: “An absolutely ebullient celebration of little-known corners of the natural world. Whether she’s discussing the vampire squid, narwhal, corpse flower, ribbon eel, dancing frog, or comb jelly, the author’s poetic sensibility hovers over every exquisite chapter. As our reviewer noted, “the writing dazzles with the marvel of being fully alive.”
Warm and lyrical, the book is gorgeously illustrated by Fumi Nakamura.
“This book sprints. It leaps… it lingers in a world where power, people, and the literal outside wrestle painfully, beautifully.” – Kiese Laymon
Aimee lives (and enjoys the outdoors) in Oxford, Mississippi with her husband and two sons.
Grammy-winner and two-time Emmy nominee Dom Flemons has released his third solo album, Prospect Hill: The American Songster Omnibus (Omnivore Recordings). The two CD set features three parts: the original Prospect Hill album, the 2015 EP What Got Over, and The Drum Major Instinct which includes twelve previously unissued instrumental tracks.
In 2018, Flemons’ solo album, Dom Flemons Presents Black Cowboys (Smithsonian Folkways) received a Grammy nomination for “Best Folk Album” at the 61st Grammy Awards. Flemons was nominated for two Emmys in 2018 for the PBS Episode: Songcraft Presents Dom Flemons and for the co-written song “Good Old Days” with songwriter Ben Arthur.
Flemons co-founded the Carolina Chocolate Drops who won a Grammy for “Best Traditional Folk Album” in 2010 and were nominated for “Best Folk Album” in 2012. He left the group to pursue his solo career in 2014. He is considered an expert player on the banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife and rhythm bones.
Southern songwriter Skylar Gregg’s latest album is Roses which was preceded by the single, Long Way Back. Her video single, Landfill, premiered on DittyTV on Sept. 21.
Her songs are a Bobby Gentry-esque cocktail of hard work and humor, expressing vivid lyrical imagery and raw grit. The Nashville-based musician’s originals are a mixed bag of retro southern music immersed in old soul, 60’s and 70’s country and blues.
Review of Roses: “…a fully-realized project that fuses old and modern sounds with lyrics that make you think.” – Glide Magazine
