Thacker's Back! Today, Feb. 12 - Powerhouse 6 pm!

After a generational ice storm forced cancellation last week, Thacker Mountain Radio Hour returns to live performances on Thursday, Feb. 12 at the Powerhouse Arts Center in Oxford, MS.

Doors open at 5 pm for a special art exhibit/happy hour, including complimentary snacks and beverages (small donation).

Showtime is 6 pm.

Admission is free and the public is invited.

The Powerhouse is located at 413 S. 14th Street in Oxford.

Guests for the Feb. 12 season premiere will include novelist Jenny Tinghui Zhang and her timely book portraying extreme celebrity worship, Superfan.

Musical guests will include blues musician Keith Johnson, “The Prince of the Blues” and Delta/Americana songwriter Alanna Mosley.

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

The show can be heard on air and online in Oxford every Thursday at 6 pm on WUMS – 92.1 FM – University of Mississippi.

Also, now twice a week on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB): Saturdays at 5 pm and Sundays at 6 pm (90.3 FM locally).

This year’s Thacker spring 2026 season runs from February 12 through the finale on April 30 with March 12 off for spring break.

All live shows are free admission and are at the Powerhouse except Feb. 19 (Water Valley); March 13 and April 9 (Off Square Books) and Friday, April 10 (Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, MS).

In other Thacker news, MPB-TV has announced it will film this season’s 12 spring shows for telecast later in the year.

The network will set up cameras at the Hendricks Building, 102 Main Street, Water Valley on Thursday, Feb. 19 to record that’s week’s 6 pm show. Please join us in Water Valley and be in our first televised audience!

The MPB-TV crew returns with us to Oxford for our Feb. 26 show with plans to film every Thacker show this spring and Fall ’26.

Meantime, radio/online listeners can continue to enjoy Thacker Mountain Radio Hour on its usual days and times.

In addition to MPB and WUMS, other affiliates include Alabama Public Radio; community radio stations in Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville, and KNCE True Taos Radio in Taos, NM.

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Kathryn Rodenmeyer, Director of Television for MPB, said putting Thacker Mountain Radio Hour on television was an easy call.

“We’re delighted to add Thacker Mountain Radio Hour to our MPB Television line-up,” Rodenmeyer declared.

“After 25 years on radio, we think our television viewers will enjoy the literature and music as much as generations of radio listeners.”

Royal Aills, MPB Executive Director, agreed, adding, “Thacker Mountain Radio Hour helps us tap into the South’s authors and musicians, some of which are this state’s most important cultural exports.”

Among the musicians, authors and “cultural exports” coming up this season: author LaToya Watkins, John and Renee Grisham Writer-in-Residence at Ole Miss, at Water Valley, MS (Feb. 19);

former Oxford resident (!) and City Grocery bar plaque-holder Jonathan “Jonny” Miles (Feb. 26);