Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will host its fall premiere featuring singer-songwriters Grayson Capps and Amy Andrews and author Beck Dorey-Stein Thursday night at Off Square Books.
Based on the Alabama Gulf Coast, Capps said his most recent album, “Scarlett Roses,” examines the sensory details specific to his life.
“The inspiration for my latest album came from the power of smell and a recollection of the past triggered by sense memory,” Capps said. “It is in my style of music that has been fed by my auditory collections and musings over a span of thirty years of writing and performing. It is unique to me because it encapsulates a moment in time and space completely like no other in my life.”
The premiere’s other musical feature, Amy Andrews, was raised on a different body of water — the Chesapeake Bay. Andrews last performed in Oxford in 2014 for the Ole Miss Music of the South Conference.
“In the time I spent playing in town, I met so many lovely listeners — people who have kept in touch for years, people that value storytelling and storytelling in song,” Andrews said. “I look forward to making more connections with folks this Thursday. I am really so thrilled to be back on stage at Off Square Books with Thacker Mountain Radio.”
Andrews’ most recent releases are a 10-song album titled “My Best” and her single “Julie.” She will tour the U.K. in November.
“I most look forward to connecting with audiences,” Andrews said. “I cannot tell you how much I love chatting on stage between songs, workshopping new music on stage, sharing my music and reimagining old tunes that I adore. I hope U.K. listeners love me as much as I am prepared to love them.”
An author, Dorey-Stein is from Narberth, Pennsylvania, and wrote “From the Corner of the Oval,” a memoir about her time working as a stenographer in the White House during President Obama’s second term. She recollects her romantic experience with a D.C. insider and the friendships she made with the people around her who devoted themselves to the service of the president.
“I hope people read the book and feel like they just got to ride in the motorcade and fly on Air Force One and run through Havana in the rain with me,” Dorey-Stein said. “I also hope they take away a deeper understanding of the Obama administration’s commitment to serving the American people and perhaps remember the good advice I received early on in the job, which is to remember to look up.”
Before working in the White House, Dorey-Stein taught high school English in New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; and Seoul, South Korea. “From the Corner of the Oval” is her first book.
The Oxford-based Thacker Mountain show was picked up for broadcast by Alabama Public Radio (APR), and aired for the first time on APR last Saturday. Going forward, APR will air the show on radio and online at 9 p.m. Saturday nights.
“We are thrilled to be picked up for broadcast by Alabama Public Radio,” Thacker Mountain producer Kate Teague said. “Thacker’s vision is to share these stories of a diverse and emerging South with the world, so to have the opportunity to syndicate our show in another state certainly makes us one step closer to conquering that vision.”
The weekly show is free and open to the community and draws local residents, current Ole Miss students and alumni.
“Thacker Mountain Radio adds to the culture and community of Oxford by giving an outlet for locals to entertain and be entertained,” Oxford native and Ole Miss alumna Elizabeth Tettleton said. “It also brings in people from the South and abroad, exposing our small town to roots that go deeper than Oxford.”
Those who can’t make it to the 6 p.m. show can join Thacker Mountain Radio on WUMS 92.1 or at myrebelradio.com.
