Thursday, May 29 – 6 pm – The Mississippi Delta is home to the blues, Mississippi River culture (and soil) and the creative magic of pen to paper or voice to guitar.  Those elements will all conjure together Thursday, May 29 in Greenwood, MS in a one-of-a kind way.

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, the weekly public radio showcase for southern music and literature, brings its live show to Greenwood at the Carl Center (former Historic Elk Lodge) on Thursday, May 29 at 6 pm.

Guests will include author Boyce Upholt (The Great River) songwriter Anne Freeman and blues musician Nikki Hill.

Hosts are Jim Dees and house band, Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers.

Admission is free and the public is invited. The show is a partnership with the Museum of the Mississippi Delta.

Doors: 5:30 pm/ Show: 6 pm/ Book signing with live music: 7 pm – Beer and wine for sale.

No live broadcast. The show will be recorded for air the weekend of June 25-29.

The Carl Center is located at 102 West Washington St in downtown Greenwood. The show will take place on the second floor which is elevator accessible.

Author: Boyce Upholt, The Great River – The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi – Winner of the 2024 Willie Morris Award for Southern Nonfiction

Excerpt: “By the early nineteenth century, as many as three thousand flatboats traveled down the Mississippi annually… The boats drifted atop an ever-changing river. The Upper Ohio was transparent… Then, after a few hundred miles, the terrain flattened; mud thickened the water, until it was a torrent of half-milked coffee. Even the fish in these waters seemed ungodly; catfish could weigh a hundred pounds. On some nights, they slammed against the boat so loudly that it was hard to sleep.” — from The Great River

“Reviews: “The Great River is easily one of the best books ever written about the Mississippi.” – John Barry, author, Rising Tide

“… fascinating lore alongside jolting conservation truths.” Garden & Gun

7 pm – The Great River will be for sale on site after the show. Boyce Upholt will sign copies with live music by Nikki Hill.

Musical guests: Nikki Hill and the Heartbreak Trio and indie rock songwriter Anne Freeman

Don’t miss an incredible evening of history, music, culture and live performance!

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour is heard weekly on various affiliates and platforms including every Saturday at 7 pm (CT) on Mississippi Public Broadcasting – (on air in the Greenwood, MS area on your radio dial, WMAO 90.9 FM).

Also, don’t miss:

America at the Crossroads traveling guitar exhibit in Greenwood!

from The National GUITAR Museum – at the Museum of the Mississippi Delta

from May 29 – September 5, 2025!

Details here.

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Guitars rock! Some of our faves:

Greenwood native Hubert Sumlin: Pickin’

Southern blues rocker Nikki Hill: “Mississippi Delta” (Bobbie Gentry) Heartbreak Hill at Voyager’s Rest in Water Valley, Mississippi

Delta bluesman Robert Johnson (reportedly fatally poisoned in 1938 at Three Forks near Greenwood, MS): Dead Shrimp Blues

Vasti, Cedric, Kingfish, Charlie Worsham, the Rising Stars, Keith Johnson, Joe Eagle: Crossroads

See yall in the Delta!

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Featured image: Matt and Nikki Hill (Bruce Newman)