The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour kicks off its fall season Thursday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. at Off Square Books. Admission is free. Guests for Thursday’s show will be author Beck Dorey-Stein and singer-songwriters Grayson Capps and Amy Andrews. Hosts are Jim Dees and house band, the Yalobushwhackers. Thursday’s show can be heard live on WUMS 92.1 FM (Oxford) and online.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour can also be heard every Saturday at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) and at 9 p.m. Saturdays on Alabama Public Radio (APR).
Thursday’s show at Off Square Books is the start of the broadcast’s 21st year on the air. The program recently wrapped up its summer road season with shows in Clinton, Tupelo, the Neshoba County Fair and Ocean Springs. Thacker producer Kate Teague says her crew enjoys the road trips but looks forward to settling in at Off Square Books.
“We’re very grateful for our audiences in the various cities who come out to see us,” she said. “It’s always good to get back home and see old friends and familiar faces in the audience at Off Square.”
Thursday’s author is Beck Dorey-Stein who has written a memoir about her improbable five years working in the Obama White House, From the Corner of the Oval (Spiegel and Grau). In 2012, she answered an ad on Craigslist and landed a job in the Oval Office as one of Barack Obama’s stenographers. She joined the elite team who accompany the president wherever he goes on whirlwind trips across time zones, recorder and mic in hand.
As she learns the ropes (and runs afoul of the fussy staff hierarchy), Beck becomes romantically entangled with a consummate D.C. insider, and suddenly the political becomes all too personal.
Publisher’s Weekly said of the book, “Hilarious . . . Dorey-Stein writes with honesty and panache.”
Grayson Capps is a singer-songwriter based on the Alabama Gulf coast. His latest album is Scarlett Roses. Capps’ songwriting blends his literary sense of story with roadhouse musical chops, “Tony Joe White meets Tom Waits,” one critic wrote.
Singer/songwriter Amy Andrews was brought up on the sounds of Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, and Motown. After years of vocal training for a career in musical theatre, she began writing her own music and performing on the road. Her latest releases are the 10-song LP, My Best and her newest single, Julie. In November, Andrews will embark on a tour of the U.K.
Other highlights of Thacker fall season include gospel rocker Rev. John Wilkins (Sept. 13); former Oxford resident Jimmy Cajoleas with The Red Clay Strays and The Memphis Ukulele Band at the Lyric (Sept. 20); “Midnight Train to Georgia” songwriter (and former Ole Miss quarterback) Jim Weatherly at the Lyric (Oct. 18); a special Sunday show at Rowan Oak for SarahFest (Oct 21); Cedric Burnside (Nov. 8) and the season finale at the Lyric with hilarious southern essayist Harrison Scott Key (Nov. 15).
More information on schedules and guests at http://thackermountain.com/.
Special to HottyToddy.com
