The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour performs its final show of the year this Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Lyric Oxford (1006 Van Buren Ave.). Admission is free. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and drink service will be available. Guests for the season finale include Grammy-nominated blues musician Cedric Burnside, Patti Smith Band guitarist/author Lenny Kaye, novelist Simeon Marsalis (“A Lie Is To Grin) and psychedelic pop rockers, The JAG.

The show is hosted by Jim Dees and Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers. The program can be heard locally on WUMS 92.1 FM and streamed online: http://myrebelradio.com/.

Cedric Burnside is a Grammy-nominated blues musician who was born and raised near Holly Springs. He is the grandson of the legendary R.L. Burnside and son of drummer Calvin Jackson. He is a four-time winner of the prestigious Blues Music Award’s Drummer of the Year (2010-2014) and is also making his mark as a blues guitarist. His current CD, Descendants of Hill Country was nominated for a Grammy for the Best Blues Album of 2015. His previous CDs include, Here Me When I Say, and Take Me As I Am. Cedric is currently on tour with guitarist and lifelong friend Trenton Ayers.

Lenny Kaye is a guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known for his longtime collaboration backing up poet/rocker Patti Smith. An avid record collector and DJ, Kaye curated the 1972 compilation of lost American pop singles, Nuggets and a four-CD set, the Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. He is the author of a book on crooners of the 1930s and a biography of Waylon Jennings. His forthcoming book is Lightning Strikes (Ecco) which sprawls across five decades and a dozen cities including geographical flashpoints of pop culture from Memphis in 1954 to New York 1975.

Simeon Marsalis’ debut novel is A Lie Is To Grin (Catapult Books). The book is narrated by David, an African-American freshman at the University of Vermont who is struggling to define himself against the white culture of his school while mourning the loss of his girlfriend. Short-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, Grin is “a slim, ambitious debut that tackles loss and racial identity . . . Marsalis incisively comments on a wide range of ideas, from authenticity to architecture.” (Publisher’s Weekly).

Starting as a homage to 1960’s acid rock and early glam, The JAG, originally from Jackson, now Nashville, quickly progressed into a rare mix of influences, including David Byrne, David Bowie, and Brian Eno. Following a tour with Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, The JAG recorded their sophomore album, Pondermental Wonderment In Hypocricity, with the Bomb Shelter’s Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff). Their latest releases are the singles, A Star is Born and Dead Animals.

Live performances of The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour will resume on Thursday, February 1, 2018 at Off Square Books. The show can be heard every Saturday at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Public Broadcasting radio (90.3 FM) or online: http://www.mpbonline.org/.

The Thacker Mountain Radio Hour Holiday Membership party will take place at Southside Gallery on Friday, Dec. 1 from 6-9 p.m. The event will feature a silent auction, live music by the Yalobushwhackers, catering and a signature cocktail. The party is free to current members and new members may join at the door.