The show was founded by former Oxford musicians Caroline Herring and Bryan Ledford, and Richard Howorth, owner of Square Books, a much-beloved bookstore on the Oxford town square. The show was named by Howorth after a fire observation tower atop Lafayette County’s Thacker Mountain, five miles south of Oxford. The tower somewhat resembles a radio tower and Howorth felt the approximately 700-foot elevation of this “mountain” was appropriately modest for the show’s beginning aspirations.
The first Thacker Mountain Radio show was broadcast from Off Square Books, a remainder/used books ancillary store of Square Books, on October 15, 1997. Guests on that first show were author John Bentley Mays and musician Tony Furtado.
Those early shows featured an author reading and music by a visiting band as well as songs by the house band, a format that continues today.
Through the years The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour has hosted a variety of literary and musical artists. Some of the most recognized authors are: John Grisham, Natasha Trethewey (former U.S. Poet Laureate), Joy Williams, Caroline Kennedy, Jim Harrison, Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, Elizabeth Gilbert, Donna Tartt, Isabel Wilkerson, Richard Flanagan, Robert Stone, Larry Brown, Willie Morris, Barry Hannah, Jayne Anne Phillips, Elmore Leonard, Rick Bragg, Nikki Giovanni, Alan Garganus, George Pelecanos, Sloane Crosley, Jesmyn Ward, Karen Russell, Tom Franklin, Beth Ann Fennelly, Chris Offutt, Ace Atkins, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Lee Smith, George Plimpton, Brad Watson, Ron Rash, William Gay, Jill McCorkle, Bobbie Ann Mason, Kiese Laymon, Mary Miller, Roy Blount Jr., Julia Reed, Andre Dubus III, Billy Collins, Daniel Woodrell, George Saunders, Kaye Gibbons, Jessica B. Harris, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Frances Mayes, Candace Bushnell, Sarah M. Broom and Erik Larson.
Musicians who have performed on the show include: Elvis Costello, Neko Case, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls, Drive-By Truckers, Jon Langford of the Mekons, Grammy/Oscar winner, Paul Williams, Suzi Quatro, Olu Dara, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury, Paul Overstreet, Jennifer Nettles, Victoria Williams, Bobby Rush, Dorothy Moore, The War and Treaty, T-Model Ford, Blue Mountain, North Mississippi All Stars, Lucero, The Como Mamas, Charlie Musselwhite, Kenny Brown, Jimbo Mathus, Jon Cleary, Southern Avenue, Robert “Bilbo” Walker, JoJo Hermann, James “Super Chikan” Johnson, Lilly Hiatt, The Sensational Barnes Brothers, Larkin Poe, Songhoy Blues, Dent May and the late Col. Bruce Hampton. Some guests such as Kathy Valentine of the Go-Gos, Radney Foster, Willy Vlautin, Kinky Friedman, Greg Iles and J.D. Wilkes have done double duty as authors and musicians.
The show now broadcasts some 30 shows a year, 12 in the spring and 12 in the fall as well as 5-6 on the road in various cities across the Southeast US.
Thacker Mountain Radio Hour with special guests Vasti Jackson, Wyatt Ellis, and author Snowden Wright LIVE at The Ellis Theater on Saturday, February 1, 2025.
Doors: 6:30 PM, Show: 7:30 PM | The Ellis Theater, Philadelphia, MS
All ages