The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, the award-winning music and literature program based in Oxford, is going to Tupelo on Saturday, August 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The program will be performed at the Link Centre Concert Hall located at 1800 West Main Street. Admission is free and the public is invited. For more information call 662-690-4011. This show will not be broadcast live but will air Saturday, Aug. 22 at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
Guests for the Tupelo show will be soul food cookbook author, Caroline Randall Williams, poet/musician Tom Kimmel and local favorites, the Homemade Jamz Blues Band. The show is hosted by Jim Dees and the Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers, led by Memphis rockabilly guitarist, John Paul Keith.
Following the radio recording, Kimmel and the Homemade Jamz Band will each perform additional brief sets.
Headlining the show will be Tupelo transplants, The Homemade Jamz Blues Band. The sibling trio began in Baumholder, Germany when their father, Renaud Perry, returned from military service in Korea. The group is, Ryan Perry (age 23) on vocals and guitars, Kyle Perry (21), bass and Taya Perry (16), drums. In 2007, they were the youngest band ever to compete in the International Blues Challenge, taking second place in a field of 157 bands. Since then they have taken their gritty soul blues/juke joint sound around the world as well as to national television programs such as CBS Sunday Morning and The Today Show. The “homemade” part of their name is apt as their guitars are hand-crafted by dad Renaud from car mufflers and worn using seatbelt straps.
Caroline Randall Williams is the co-author (with her mother, Alice Randall) of Soul Food Love, a cookbook and African-American culinary anthology containing stories and some 80 recipes. The book redefines traditional soul food cooking by emphasizing healthy ingredients. Earlier this year, Williams was named by Southern Living magazine as one of “50 People Who Are Changing the South.”
Tom Kimmel is a singer/songwriter, from Nashville whose compositions have been recorded by Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Joe Cocker, Art Garfunkel and Randy Travis. He is also the author of a volume of poetry, The Sweetest and the Meanest. His most recent musical CD is Never Saw Blue, a collection of his songs that have been featured in films and television. The songs run the gamut from folk ballads to rock and roll, humorous to serious.
John Paul Keith is a songwriter and guitarist originally from Knoxville but now based in Memphis. His latest CD is Memphis Circa 3AM (Big Legal Mess Records). The CD was produced by the late Roland Janes, longtime house guitarist and engineer for Sun Records.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour can be heard every Saturday at 7 pm on Mississippi Public Broadcasting and online at http://www.mpbonline.org/programs/radio/listen-live/. More information on upcoming shows is available at the show’s website. Photos from past shows can be found on the show’s Facebook page and podcasts can be heard on the show’s Soundcloud page at https://soundcloud.com/thackermountain.
The show, now in its 17th year, is a past recipient of the Mississippi Governor’s Award for Broadcast Excellence.
