The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour rocks on with hot young voices from funk to fiction!
Author: Kaveh Akbar – Acclaimed poet with debut novel, Martyr! (“… intense, original, smart.” — Kirkus Reviews)
Music: Creekbed Carter Hogan (“fingerpicked introspection and bittersweet confessionals” – Austin (TX ) Chronicle) and Memphis funkster, Hope Clayburn and Soul Scrimmage (Y’all So Loud!)
Hosts: Jim Dees with Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers
(Original air: April 4, 2024)
Air times:
Thursday, July 25 – 8 am (CT) WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN
Thursday, July 25 – 6 pm (CT) WUMS – University of Mississippi
Saturday, July 27– 3 pm (E T) WUTC 88.1 FM Chattanooga, TN
7pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
Sunday, July 28
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
Kaveh Akbar is the author of Martyr! (Knopf).
Akbar is an acclaimed poet and Martyr! is his first novel.
The story concerns a newly sober, orphaned son of Iranian immigrants who is guided by the voices of artists, poets, and kings as he embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret that leads him to a terminally ill painter living out her final days in the Brooklyn Museum.
“Kaveh Akbar is one of my favorite writers. Ever.” —Tommy Orange, Pulitzer Prize–nominated author of There There
“The best novel you’ll ever read about the joy of language, addiction, displacement, martyrdom, belonging, homesickness.” —Lauren Groff, best-selling author of Matrix and Fates and Furies
Akbar is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell and Calling a Wolf a Wolf.
He lives in Iowa City, IA.
Hope Clayburn’s saxophone, flute chops, and soulful vocals have vaulted her to the forefront of the reinvigorated Memphis music scene.
Her extensive touring includes Brazil where she played a festival focused on African women from around the world, the “Latinidades Festival” in Brasilia, Brazil. She also appeared on the iconic music TV show, Austin City Limits, backing up rising folk star Valerie June for the show’s 40th anniversary.
Her band, Soul Scrimmage, are currently featured on the PBS television show, Sun Studio Sessions.
Her releases include a 6-song EP, Love Is On The Way and the forthcoming album, Y’all So Loud.
Clayburn, it should be noted, also works as a trauma nurse in the ER of a Memphis hospital.
Blasphemous, stripped-down, and a stomping good time: Creekbed Carter Hogan (Bridget Brewer) is a trans folk musician from Austin, TX with a silver tongue and a heart of gold, slinging queergrass out of dive bars, sewer creeks, and fancy national stages alike.
A full-length album is scheduled for release in Spring 2024 and a TikTok following is growing as Hogan works on a favored project: excavating little-known union and labor songs.
Creekbed Carter is emerging as a strong voice (and fingerpicker) in the Americana and folk scenes of the American Southwest.
The artist’s releases include the four-song EP Split, and the single, Looking.
Also of note, Hogan published their debut book of short stories, One or Several Deserts under the name Carter St Hogan with 11:11 Press in Spring 2023.
