Thacker Mountain Radio Hour kicks off New Season Thursday at Graduate Hotel

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will open its Fall 2023 season on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 6 p.m. at the Graduate Hotel led by a new Executive Director with extensive ties to Oxford.

Amanda Wymer, formerly from Oxford and Ocean Springs, took over the show’s reins in July.

Though she will make her official move to Oxford later in the fall, she’ll attend the Graduate premiere to meet and greet Thacker supporters.

“This really is a homecoming for me,” Wymer said. “My family moved to Oxford from Clarksdale before my first birthday. I grew up at the Hoka and remember my parents listening to Thacker from Off Square Books. My mother and brother live in Oxford, and I have three children of my own and can’t wait to show them Oxford.”

After a stint working in the arts in San Francisco, Wymer was most recently the Assistant Director of the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs. She brings extensive development and fundraising skills to her new job.

“Amanda has already made a significant impact on the show,” notes Thacker Board President Mary Margaret Andrews. “She’s updated our Spotify, Soundcloud, and Instagram pages and put together our fall fundraising campaign. We’re very excited to have her on board.”

Guests for the Sept. 7 season premiere will include debut novelist Irina Zhorov as well as local alt-rockers, Bark and Delta songwriter Will Griffith, performing as The Great Dying, The show is hosted by Jim Dees and the Yalobushwhacker Big Band featuring the Thacker Horns and guest vocalist, Mary Frances Massey.

Admission is free. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with bar service available. The show will be broadcast live on WUMS, 92.1 FM (online at http://myrebelradio.com/).

The show can also be heard on public and community radio stations in Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville, TN as well as on the stations of Mississippi Public Broadcasting and Alabama Public Radio.

The show’s newest affiliate is KNCE (93.5 FM) True Taos Radio in Taos, New Mexico.

Highlights of the upcoming fall season include father/son authors Terry and Nick McDonell (Sept. 21); author Ron Rash with a Nashville songwriters showcase presented by the Ole Miss Women’s Council at the Lyric (Sept. 28); NOLA funk rocker, Ernie Vincent (Oct. 12); Southern Studies scholar Ann Abadie (Nov. 2); Mississippi songwriter Steve Azar with author/illustrator

Sarah Frances Hardy plus Memphis musicians, Amy LaVere and Will Sexton (Nov. 11) and the Season Finale on Thursday, Nov. 16 with Afrissippi and Charlie Mars.

Locations for the fall shows will rotate between the Powerhouse Arts Center (413 S 14th St), Lyric Oxford (1006 Van Buren Ave) and the lobby of the Graduate Hotel (400 N Lamar Blvd).

A frequently updated schedule is available on the show’s website.

The show will wrap up its 2023 schedule with its annual Holiday Membership party on Dec. 1 at Southside Art Gallery.