(Photo from gulfcoast.org)
- The Oxford-based, weekly public radio show returns to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art on Saturday, August 23 at 6 p.m.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, the Oxford-based, weekly public radio show devoted to literature and music, returns to the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs on Saturday, August 23 at 6 p.m.
The show will feature Mississippi’s new Poet Laureate Ann Fisher-Wirth, New Orleans songwriter A.J. Haynes, and Fairhope, AL songwriter, Molly Thomas and her band.
The event is hosted by Jim Dees with Thacker house band, Paul Tate and the Yalobushwhackers featuring vocalist Mary Frances Massey.
This program will not be broadcast live, but will air on Saturday, September 6 at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and at 9 p.m. on Alabama Public Radio.
Ann Fisher-Wirth is the Mississippi Poet Laureate for the term 2025-2029. Her most recent poetry collection is Paradise is Jagged (Terrapin Books).
The poems in the book celebrate the beauty of the natural world as well as the haunting of childhood memories, family loss and grief, and a moving visit with writing students at the Mississippi Penitentiary at Parchman. Signed copies of Paradise is Jagged will be for sale at the show.
Songwriter A.J. Haynes is the leader of the genre-expansive, soul power band, Seratones, from New Orleans. As a solo act, A.J.’s latest single is “For the Canaries.” The Seratones’ latest album is Love and Algorhythms (2023, New West Records).
Fairhope, Alabama-based singer-songwriter Molly Thomas has released the single, “Crash,” from her forthcoming fifth studio album, Tumble Home. The ten-song collection is due in September. Written and recorded in the aftermath of an August 1, 2023 car accident that nearly took her life, “Crash” is an unflinchingly intimate track.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour’s broadcast home in Oxford is The Powerhouse Arts Center (413 S. 14th Street), where twelve shows are recorded each spring and twelve in the fall. Another five to six performances are recorded on the road in various cities, including Ocean Springs, across the Southeast.
In 2005, Thacker Mountain Radio Hour received the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Broadcast Excellence. In 2017, the show was awarded a “Citation of Merit” from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters. Host Jim Dees was honored with a Magnolia Tribune Top 50 award in March 2025.
On October 20, 2022, The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour celebrated 25 years on the air.
The R&B Feder Foundation presents the show with additional support from Gulf Hills Hotel & Resort in Ocean Springs and Visit Mississippi. Tickets are $50 (VIP-reserved, drink specials) and $30 general admission and are available online at the museum’s website here or at the museum on 510 Washington Avenue, Ocean Springs.
Doors for the show will open at 5 p.m. and the show will start at 6 pm.
For more information, visit here.
Susan Marquez
