Host Post: Radio Revels

by Jim Dees – An author reads from their work and a band plays their latest tunes. It’s a pretty simple formula. The catch is, the author and the band have to be sincere, talented and hard-working and, while they’re at it, show us a new way to see truth.

For the past two decades The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, based right here in little ole Oxford, has presented just such a show. Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning authors have expounded from our podium. Grammy winners and just plain world class musicians have shredded on our stage.

The whole thing seems improbable for one or two years, let alone twenty. One author, John Perry of San Francisco, took in our house band and the attentive audience assembled in little wooden chairs at Off Square Books and mused, “We don’t have anything like this in the Bay Area.”

Our little radio show has kept going – some 600 shows now and counting – thanks to the teamwork of our cast and crew, board of directors and interns, listeners and supporters.

Tonight (Friday, 12-7) at Southside Art Gallery, we’re going to take a minute to raise some dollars to keep The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour roaring into a new year – and beyond. Artists of every stripe have donated very cool auction items, from paintings and photos, to guided fishing trips and slow-cooked hogs, to martini lessons.

Our house band, the Yalobushwhackers, (one of the absolute best configurations of our 20 years) will be shaking the joint and we’ll have killer food and drink from Party Waitin to Happen and The Main Event.

Here’s a chance to beat the drizzle and keep the airwaves safe for real radio. It may be a simple formula, but sometimes those are the best kind.

Let us rumble.

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour annual holiday/membership party, Friday, Dec. 7 from 6-9 pm at Southside Gallery at 150 Van Buren Avenue.
Admission: FREE to current members. Join or renew at the door for $50 (single), $75 for couples and $20 for students. Memberships are good for one year.
Donate online: https://thackermountain.com/donate/.

Checks: Friends of Thacker Mountain Radio, Inc., P.O. Box 2196, Oxford MS 38655.

Photo: Author Richard Grant at Off Square Books by Scott Barretta (11-19-15)