Bestselling author Rick Bragg will appear in Mobile, AL on Saturday, May 4 at 7 pm as part of an award-winning, Mississippi-based music and literature radio show.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour, from Oxford, Mississippi, will bring its mix of author readings and eclectic musical performances to Alabama for the first time at the Cedar Street Social Club. Along with Bragg, the show will feature Mobile native, multi-instrumentalist Will Kimbrough plus Birmingham songwriter Love Moor (Erica Andrew). The show is hosted by Thacker Mountain’s house band and Mississippi writer, Jim Dees. Admission is free though seating will be limited and offered on a first-come, first serve basis.
The Cedar Street Social Club is located at 4, 2106 N Cedar Street in Mobile.
“We're really excited about hosting the Thacker Mountain Radio Hour's Alabama debut at our venue,” said Ben Jernigan, spokesman for the Cedar Street Social Club. “We look forward to showcasing some of this state’s best talent: literary titan Rick Bragg and musician/renaissance man, Will Kimbrough and up-and-comer Love Moor. This should be a great evening.”
Underwriters for the event include JLL, Downtown Mobile Alliance and the Alabama Bicentennial Commission.
Rick Bragg’s latest book is The Best Cook in the World: Tales From My Mama’s Table (Knopf) a rollicking food memoir, cookbook, and loving tribute to the author’s native region and family, and, especially, his mother. The book includes many Bragg family recipes recorded for the first time and “handed down skillet by skillet, from one generation of Braggs to the next.”
Bragg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, journalist, and author of two bestselling memoirs, All Over But the Shoutin' and Ava's Man. He lives in Fairhope.
Copies of The Best Cook in the World will be available for purchase and signing by Bragg.
Will Kimbrough is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. A Mobile native, he’s now based in Nashville. His latest album, I Like It Down Here will be released on April 19. Kimbrough has produced albums for Shemekia Copeland, Radney Foster and Jimmy Buffett and toured with Todd Snider, Rodney Crowell and Emmylou Harris, among others.
Love Moor (Erica Andrew) is a neo soul singer-songwriter based in Birmingham. Her latest album is Simp Girl. AL.com included Love Moor on its 2018 list of “25 essential Alabama musicians to know.”
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour airs on Alabama Public Radio (APR) on radio and online every Saturday night at 9 pm.
David Duff, music director for APR believes the show is good fit for Alabama listeners. “We’re very happy to have The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour as part of our weekend line-up. The combination of regional music and the focus on authors from the area makes the program perfect for our audience.”
The Mobile show on May 4 will not be carried live but will be recorded for future air on APR.
The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour celebrated 20 years on the air in 2017. The program has booked a wide array of authors over two decades, including bestsellers such as Bragg, Elizabeth Gilbert, John Grisham, Donna Tartt and Jesmyn Ward as well as regional favorites Michael Knight, Ron Rash and Ace Atkins. Past musical guests have included Elvis Costello, Drive-By Tuckers, Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls and Oscar winner Paul Williams.
The show’s producer is Mobile native is Kate Teague. She looks forward to the homecoming.
“Being broadcast across the state of Alabama helps us strengthen our mission to celebrate the literature and music of the South,” Teague notes. “Mobile's robust live music scene and cultural heritage makes it the perfect place to debut the show in Alabama. I look forward to seeing my hometown embrace this show as fervently as our Mississippi audience.”
Following the one-hour live recording of the show, Kimbrough and his band will play a one hour set beginning at 8:20 pm.
More information is available at the show’s website: http://thackermountain.com/.