Thacker News – Radio show performs in The Grove this Sunday

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will perform in the Grove, Sunday, June 27 at 6 pm in the show’s first Oxford appearance with an audience since the Covid pandemic began last year. Admission is free and lawn chairs and picnics are welcome. The Grove is located at 1848 University Ave, Oxford, MS 38655.

The show is part of the Summer Sunset Series and is sponsored by the Ford Center, Mississippi Arts Commission and the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council

Guests will include author Melissa Ginsburg and her literary thriller, The House Uptown with musical guests, vocal group Damein Wash and the Venture Fourths and R&B singer, Effie Burt.

Hosts of the show are Jim Dees and Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhacker Big Band with horn section.

In the event of rain, the show will move to the Gertrude C. Ford Center located at 351 University Ave.

There will be no live broadcast. This show will be recorded for air later this summer. The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour can be heard every Thursday at 6 pm on WUMS – University of Mississippi; every Friday at 9 am on WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN ; every Saturday at 3 pm (ET) on WUTC 88.1 FM – University of Tennessee at Chattanooga;  7 pm on MPB — Mississippi Public Broadcasting , and at 9 pm Saturday on Alabama Public Radio.  All broadcasts are on air and online.

Past shows are archived on our SoundCloud page.

Ginsburg’s novel has received glowing reviews including this from The Guardian in London: “…a superbly written, intriguing character study of how the past impacts on the present.”

Ginsburg was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of the novel, Sunset City, and the poetry collection Dear Weather Ghost. She teaches creative writing and literature at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Damein Wash and the Venture Fourths are an acapella group who bring rich harmonies to their exciting, eclectic set list. The group is Thomas Cesario, tenor; Brady Bramlett, baritone; Joey Miller, bass and Damein Wash, tenor.

Effie Burt was born and raised in Oxford, Mississippi as one of twelve musically gifted siblings. Effie has been singing since the age of 13 with her family at churches and local musical events in Mississippi and Tennessee. Don’t miss her this Sunday with her soulful version of Take Me to the River with the Yalobushwhacker Big Band.

Thacker producer Alice Pierotti says the show’s crew looks forward to seeing familiar faces after a year and a half of quarantine and sheltering-in-place.

“We’re grateful we were able to keep the show going through in-studio shows,” she noted, “but there’s no substitute for an audience. We’re really looking forward to Sunday’s show.”

Since March 2020 the show has relied on phone interviews with authors and pre-recorded musical performances. The Thacker crew expects to resume live shows this fall at Off Square Books and the The Lyric Oxford, even if seating is limited.

The show has performed live only twice this year, both on the road, in Clarksdale and Meridian. Host Dees says that while those shows came off without any problems, he and the crew are ready to return home.

“It really is like riding a bicycle,” he says. “You think maybe you’ve forgotten how until you jump back on and take off. Our band is so tight they haven’t missed a beat – literally.”

The show’s summer schedule includes performances in August at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson and at the Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, MS.

The show opens its fall season on Thursday, Sept. 2 at Off Square Books in Oxford.

More information is available at the show’s website: https://thackermountain.com/.