The Return of Blue Mountain!

Celebrating 25 years on the air with a homecoming show!

On air/online: Thursday, Dec. 15- Saturday, Dec. 17 –  A very special reunion show to celebrate our 25 years on the air. Guests will include some of those who share the credit… and blame.

Music: Blue Mountain; TB Ledford and the Accumulators with the Ledford Girls

Literary Guests: Richard Howorth, co-founder of Square Books plus novelist Jamie Kornegay (Soil)

Hosts: Jim Dees and the Yalobushwhacker Big Band featuring the Thacker Horns and guest vocalist, Mary Frances Massey!

(Originally aired 4-21-22)

 

Air times:

Thursday, Dec. 15 – 6:00 pm (CT) WUMS – University of Mississippi

Friday, Dec. 16 – 6 am WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN.

Saturday, Dec. 17 –3 pm (ET) University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

7pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting

9pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio

Listen: Thacker Mountain SoundCloud

Featuring

Music

Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain was a southern rock band founded in 1993 by vocalist/guitarist Cary Hudson and bassist Laurie Stirratt. Their previous band, the Hilltops, included Stirratt’s twin brother, John, who later co-founded Wilco.

From 1993 through their disbanding in 2001, Blue Mountain left a profound influence on the so-called ‘alt-country’ scene. The group toured extensively and released a series of highly regarded albums that stand up to this day: Dog Days (1995), Homegrown (1997), Tales of a Traveler (1999) and 2001’s Roots.

Hudson’s prolific solo career includes the albums, Hobochitto, Town and Country, The Phoenix, and Christmas in Mississippi.

Stirratt’s many projects include the rock band, Teardrop City with Tyler Keith, George Sheldon and (former Thacker drummer) Wallace Lester.

For their Thacker appearance, Blue Mountain will include drummer Lee Ingram.

T.B. Ledford & the Accumulators

TB Ledford and the Accumulators is led by Tommy Bryan Ledford, a journeyman musician (guitar, banjo, singer/songwriter) who was born in the Mississippi Delta and raised in the piney hills of Louisiana. Following his move to Lafayette County, MS he played with such bands as the Sincere Ramblers, the Kudzu Kings, and the Taylor Grocery Band. In 1997, he helped co-found The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour.

Along with Ledford on guitar the Accumulators include Austin Sorey (bass) and Matthew Magee (fiddle). The group also includes Ledford’s daughters: Lila Ledford on guitar, Lucy Ledford on fiddle and Ava Ledford on fiddle.

Ledford’s CDs include Butcher Bird, The Taylor Grocery Band and A Sincere Ramblers Christmas. He and his wife, Leah, live in Jackson, MS with their four daughters.

Literary Guest

Richard Howorth

Square Books opened on the evening of September 14, 1979, in an upstairs location on the Oxford, MS town square. Richard and Lisa Howorth had worked two years in self-apprenticeship at the Savile Bookshop in Washington, D.C., before returning to Richard’s home to open their own store in the space they had renovated with the help of family and friends.

In late 1993, Square Books opened an annex store, Off Square Books, only a few doors down the street from the main store. This building held an active schedule of touring authors, childrens’ events, and where Thacker Mountain Radio Hour was born in October of 1997.

For 40 years, Square Books has brought in authors from around the world while also nurturing homegrown talent like a young John Grisham and the late Larry Brown.

Richard has worked on a voluntary basis for the American Booksellers Association and is a former mayor of Oxford.

Jamie Kornegay

Jamie Kornegay is the author of the novel, Soil (Simon & Shuster).

Kirkus Reviews said, “Kornegay’s skillful writing keeps the story gripping and the atmosphere haunting.”

Noted critic Jonathan Miles: “Gutty… peppery… electrifyingly unexpected.”

A former bookseller at Square Books, Kornegay served as the producer of The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour from 2000-2005. During his tenure the show went from a tri-county local production to a statewide broadast after being picked up by Mississippi Public Broadcasting.

Kornegay put Thacker on its current path of acquiring affiliates acros the southeastern US.

He lives in Grenada, MS with his wife Kelly and their three children.