On air and online: Dec. 22-24: Lost for ten years, Thacker Mountain Radio Hour’s 2012 Christmas show will get a re-airing this Christmas Eve weekend. The jam-packed line-up includes folksinger Jake Fussell; poet/essayist Beth Ann Fennelly; an excerpt from the Delta pioneer memoir, Trials of the Earth; poet Melissa Ginsburg; singer Shannon McNally and more.
Thacker host, Jim Dees, credits Andy Harper of The Southern Documentary Project, with finding the “lost” show.
“We asked Andy if Thacker had any leftover files at Southern Docs and he came up with about a dozen shows including this Christmas show,” Dees notes.
“It’s a real kick to hear Jake and Shannon and everybody from ten years ago. Christmas Eve falls on a Saturday this year so it’s perfect timing for this.”
The show includes a warm-hearted Christmas-themed reading by Sheilah Hamilton Pantin from her great-grandmother’s memoir of harsh pioneer life in the 1890s Mississippi Delta, Trials of The Earth. Vocal performers include Anna Donnell, Tiffany Gammell and Kala Marie Waltman, plus a rockin’ “Christmas-billy” tune by the Peeper Maries (Gina Sexton and Jenny Gordon Thompson).
The 2012 version of Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers, included Jake Fussell (guitar, vocal); Slade Lewis (bass); Mark Yacovone (keyboard); Jeff Callaway (trombone) and Wallace Lester (drums, sunglasses). Jim Dees served as host.
Special thanks to then-producer Kathyrn McGaw York, sound engineer Jeffrey Reed and the good folks at The Lyric Oxford where this show was recorded on November 29, 2012.
Warm up some nog and have a listen!
Merry Merry and Happy Holidays to one and all!
P.S. Check out our 2022-23 winter schedule here. Includes upcoming archival shows with Chapel Hart and our tributes to late author Willie Morris and renowned Gulf Coast artist, Walter Anderson.
Hey, why not join the fun? Please consider being a Thacker Backer. Donate to the show here.
See y’all on the radio!
Christmas show air times:
Thursday, Dec. 22 – 6:00 pm (CT) WUMS – University of Mississippi
Friday, Dec. 23 – 6 am WYXR 91.7 FM Memphis, TN.
Saturday, Dec. 24 –3 pm (ET) University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
7pm (CT) Mississippi Public Broadcasting
9pm (CT) Alabama Public Radio
