The Thacker Mountain Radio kicks off its Spring 2017 season Thursday  at 6 p.m. at Off Square Books. Admission is free.

Thursday’s show will feature acclaimed southern author Tim Gautreaux and oral historian Diane Williams. Musical guests include The Nellie Mack Blues trio and Austin, Texas soul band, the Nightowls. The show is hosted by Jim Dees and Thacker house band, the Yalobushwhackers.

The show will be performed at Off Square Books every Thursday, except for the week of spring break and two shows (Feb. 16 and April 20) at the Lyric Oxford. Admission is always free.

The program can be heard locally on WUMS 92.1 FM. The show can also be heard every Saturday at 7 p.m. on Mississippi Pubic Broadcasting (90.3 FM in Oxford) and online at http://www.mpbonline.org/.

Thacker producer Kate Teague said the Thacker crew is ready to crank up live broadcasts after a two-month hiatus.

“We’re raring to go,” Teague said. “We’ve had a nice break but we’re excited to get this season started because we know we have some great shows lined up.”

Highlights of the season, which starts Thursday and runs through late April, are the Oxford Film Festival show with rockabilly legend Sonny Burgess (Feb. 16), bestselling mystery writer, Greg Iles (March 23) and Mary Lindsay Dickinson, widow of Memphis musician Jim Dickinson and Dave Rae Morris, son of late author Willie Morris (April 6).

The 2017 spring Thacker Mountain Radio season will culminate in their annual Friday night Double Decker show on the outdoor stage on April 27 at 6 p.m. A calendar of Thacker Mountain Radio’s spring shows is available at the Thacker website: http://thackermountain.com/.