Tonight at 6, Thacker Mountain Radio will welcome Willy Vlautin, reading from his newest book, “The Free,” along with a musical guest list that includes Loves It!, Scott Albert Johnson and Kenny Brown.
Thacker features an eclectic variety of authors and musicians who perform live at Off Square Books on Thursdays during the fall and spring. The show is rebroadcast Saturday nights on Mississippi Public Radio.
“Every week we work to bring the audience something that feels exciting and new that you will not regularly see but still enjoy,” producer Kathryn McGaw said.
Loves It! is composed of Vaughn Walters and Jenny Parrott, a pair of songwriters from Austin, Texas. With Walters on guitar and Parrott on fiddle, the band will be playing rock-folk tunes from its latest album, “All We Are,” which debuted Oct. 29.
“We started writing songs together in our spare time and we used to say ‘loves it’ all the time as slang for ‘I love it,’” Parrott said. “We said if we have a band we should call it that. The name stuck and we kept writing songs and kept practicing.”
Loves It! will kick off its two-week tour with performances at not only Thacker but also Ajax starting at 8:30 tonight.
Songwriter and harmonica player Scott Albert Johnson will preview songs from his newest album, “Going Somewhere,” coming out this May.
“It is different from my first album that came out in 2007, five and half years ago,” Johnson said. “I think every artist wants to say they have progressed over time, and definitely on the harmonica I can say I’ve done that. “
Johnson lived in many different cities, such as New York, Washington D.C. and San Diego, before eventually moving back to his hometown of Jackson. His music is greatly influenced by the state.
“Along with it being one of the music capitals of the world, it is also the storytelling capital of the world, and certainly Oxford is a big part of that,” Johnson said. “I try to tell a story with every song. There is a high value placed on stories here, they are what make people who they are.
“There has been a lot of turmoil here but a lot of courageous people as well. This state has been through so much trying to win its way through justice and harmony and a lot of culture has come out of that saga. The personalities are communal here and one of the things we do is make music together.”
The masses pour into Off Square Books every week eager to hear the talented musicians and authors Thacker has brought under one roof.
“We are lucky; the bookstore is a unique venue,” McGaw said. “We usually have standing-room-only crowd and that continues to grow. You can hear it on the radio, but there is nothing like hearing it live and that energy the audience brings is what makes it work.”
