DAVE'S DIARY - 1/1/08 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 5 - SERIES 9

BROOKS & DUNN HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV

Turbo tonking superstars Brooks & Dunn and fellow summer tourists Kacey Jones and Becky Hobbs headline our first show for 2008 - Saturday January 5.

The stars are supported by young gun Moot Davis - the hottest new retro country act of the millennia - at 8 p m on C 31.

Our show, repeated on Monday at 4 p m, Wednesday at 3 am and Thursday at 9 am, also features Tamworth born TV host Felicity and singing accountant Amber Lawrence.

Brooks & Dunn perform their hot new hit Proud Of The House We Built from their 12th album Cowboy Town.

The duo sold out its first Brisbane concert on February 29 and also has another gig there on March 1 with expatriate Newcastle star Catherine Britt and Geelong born Adam Harvey as supports.

Forde and Morgan Evans are the support artists on their Melbourne concert on March 5 and Sydney on March 10.

Dunn, 54, was born in Coleman, Texas, and Kix, now 52, came into the world as Leon Eric Brooks 111 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Brooks, son of an oil company engineer, shared his birthplace with Hank Williams Jr - now 58 and a four times web superstar and occasional actor.

CLICK HERE for a Brooks & Dunn review from the Diary on April 12, 2004.

BECKY HOBBS

Oklahoma stone country singer Becky Hobbs arrives here this month with Kacey Jones for their debut Australian tour.

The duo join an Aussie posse when they perform on Tamworth Country Music Train that leaves Geelong and Southern Cross at dawn on January 19 for the country music capital.

Becky celebrates her 58th birthday at the Family Hotel in Tamworth on January 24 before returning to Victoria.

The duo then headline a Nu Country TV concert at the Noise Bar at the Railway Hotel in Brunswick on Friday February 1.

Becky performs in a video this Saturday of her original song Mama's Green Eyes (& Daddy's Wild Hair) - out here on Best Of The Beckaroo - Part 1.

"In Mama's Green Eyes (& Daddy's Wild Hair) I stretched the facts a bit. My dad was definitely more outgoing than my mom, but he didn't hang out in bars. He liked to think and talk about the wild side of life more than live it! That was a hook by one of my co-writers on the song, either Jerry Hawkins or Don Goodman."

Hobbs also wrote Mama Was A Working Man about her mother.

"My mom worked at Phillips Petroleum Co. in Bartlesville for years,' Hobbs said.

"She was a top-notch secretary and saw many a man being hired for more money and less work."

CLICK HERE for a Becky Hobbs feature from the Diary on December 15, 2007.

KACEY JONES

Becky's touring partner Kacey Jones returns to Nu Country TV with an original that illustrates her parodic comedy dating back to her 1988 era with MCA recording stars Ethel & The Shameless Hussies.

Kacey, a syndicated radio personality, cut But I'm Not Bitter on her 1997 Curb solo disc Men Are Some Of My Favourite People that preceded her 2000 album Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay or Dead.

She later released The Sweet Potato Queens' Big Ass Box Of Music in 2003.

And, of course, she produced Pearls In The Snow - the tribute disc to singing Texan crime novelist and Gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman.

That was before releasing her Mickey Newbury tribute disc San Francisco Mabel Joy and video clip featuring singing actors Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Payne who was cast at Jerry Lee Lewis Johnny Cash movie Walk The Line.

Meanwhile Kacey penned three songs for the award winning cult film Sordid Lives starring Australian singing actress Olivia Newton-John, Beau Bridges, Delta Burke and Leslie Jordan.

CLICK HERE for a Kacey Jones feature from the Diary on September 10, 2006.

MOOT DAVIS DEBUT

New Jersey born retro country singer Moot Davis debuts on Nu Country with his video of Whiskey Town from academy award winning Hollywood movie Crash.

Davis's music was also featured in the second Dukes Of Hazzard movie in 2005 with Texan legend Willie Nelson, Jessica Simpson and many more.

The original TV show featured the late, great Waylon Jennings as narrator and also performing his song The Good Ole Boys.

Davis, whose music is deeply rooted in the Bakersfield sound, is promoting his second album Already Moved On for producer Pete Anderson's Little Dog Records.

Moot, born in famed Jersey city Trenton, recently boomeranged to Nashville where he first settled in 2001.

The former pool builder has also earned royalties from his songs in the horror hit The Hills Have Eyes and an Irish independent film Small Engine Repairs.

Davis's guitarist Anderson is the former long time producer of Kentucky born singing actor Dwight Yoakam and toured here with him on his first Australian sojourn.

Moot scored his break on WDVR-FM - a radio station in Sergeantsville - in his home state.

He was featured on a live weekly hillbilly radio show Heartlands Hayride and cut a demo that lured him to Nashville.

Fellow retro Texan honky-tonker Rosie Flores, who scored airplay on Nu Country FM and High In The Saddle and Acid Country on RRR and PBS-FM, suggested Moot send his demos to Anderson.

Davis credits Flores, who toured here early in the millennia, for his launch and desire to perform here.

Further info - www.mootdavis.com

FELICITY FLIES HIGH

Tamworth born singer and latter day TV star Felicity returns to Nu Country with her song No Mistakes from her fifth album My Life.

She was awarded a Tamworth Golden Guitar at the start of 2007 for No Mistakes.

Felicity upstaged peers - but not The Chaser - when she and her hot band played for Texan cowboy George Bush and Aussie sidekick John Howard at the APEC meeting in Sydney.

The singer, whose hosting roles on lifestyle shows for Seven Network has overcome commercial airplay bans, also returns to her hometown for the 36th Australian Country Music Awards this month.

CLICK HERE for a Felicity story from the Diary on June 26, 2003.

AMBER LAWRENCE GOLDEN GUITAR FINALIST

Mascot accountant Amber Lawrence's figures add up when she sings - especially this year's Golden Guitar awards.

Amber has made the finals of two sections - best female vocalist and new talent with her single Things That Bring Me Down for MRA Entertainment.

Lawrence will appear on the gala televised awards show from Tamworth on Saturday January 26.

The singer also won Female Vocalist Of The Year award at Australian Independent Country Music Awards in Mildura last year.

She also co-hosted the awards when fellow singer Donna Boyd fell ill on the eve of the show.

Amber performs her video for Gonna Fly from her CD The Mile on this week's show.

More Info - www.amberlawrence.com

TAMWORTH TRAIN SPONSOR

Nu Country has a new sponsor for Series #9 - The Tamworth Country Music Country Train that leaves Geelong and Southern Cross stations at dawn on January 19 for the NSW country music capital.

Headlining entertainment is Oklahoma raised stone country legend Becky Hobbs and Nashville comedienne, producer and singer-songwriter Kacey Jones.

We have new video clips by Becky and vintage footage of by Jones who hosted Nu Country TV from an Austin motel room during the Mickey Newbury festival in June of 2006.

Kacey recorded the Newbury tribute disc San Francisco Mabel Joy - the video clip, directed by New Mexico country star Stacy Dean Campbell, features singing actors Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Payne.

We reprised it in Series #9.

Kacey and Becky sing for their supper on the train - home for passengers during the Tamworth festival.

Nashville singer Julie Taylor performs on the train with local artists including Grant Luhrs, Connie Anderson, J R Williams, Ian Muir, Rick Bartlett, Hank Sasaki, June Harrison and Bec Hance.

Full details - www.tamworthcountrymusictrain.com.au


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