DAVE'S DIARY - 7/10/2019 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 7 - SERIES 41

MICHAEL WAUGH AND WEEPING WILLOWS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV

Victorian country artists Michael Waugh and Highett bluegrass duo the Weeping Willows headline Nu Country TV Saturday November 2 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44 on the eve of his latest Australian tour.

Texan troubadour Aaron Watson and fellow Lone Star State band Whiskey Myers return to the show, hosted by Mid-Pacific Bob Olson, and repeated Monday at 7.30 am.

Queensland quintet Saltbush Six and Arkansas singer-songwriter Erin Enderlin also appear on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.

Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/

MICHAEL WAUGH WEIR WARS

Gippsland born dairy farmer's son Michael Waugh took time off from academia as a Scotch College teacher and house master to find inspiration for his latest song and video clip.

Waugh wrote This Song Reminds Me after riding his push bike from the leafy Hawthorn campus west to the mean streets of Richmond.

It was there he witnessed former Countdown host and multi-media personality and St Kilda supporter Molly Meldrum taking in his rubbish bins to his Luxor mansion.

Septuagenarian Molly didn't swap tales from days of yore with young Michael, just 48.

Instead he provided the inspiration for the first single released from Waugh's third album The Weir.

This Song Reminds Me is more than just the lead single, it's a mission statement about the album that is to follow,” Waugh revealed.

“The album is squarely focused on our national identity and speaking of composing this first single. I do a great deal of song-writing on bikes. While it's sometimes hard to hold a guitar and steer This Song Reminds Me was written while pedalling through the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond . Molly Meldrum stepped out of his Richmond home to collect his garbage bins. Surely this was an epiphany from The Countdown Gods , heralding that I should do myself a favour and keep this particular version of the lyrics.”

The one-take video was directed by Michael's ex Scotch College student James Vinson who now works on TV show Wentworth.

It features dancing by Chunky Moves artist, international tour dancer Alya Manzart.

“The video is about a guy who wakes up with this song on his mind - it's the soundtrack to everything he does And it brings the spirit of those Aussie rock superstars into our loungerooms,” Waugh explained.

“Alya was charged with finding the physical vocabulary of those iconic artists and bringing them into everyday life.”

CLICK HERE for a Waugh's The Weir CD feature in The Diary on September 30.

WEEPING WILLOWS ON A DEVIL'S ROAD

Highett bluegrass duo The Weeping Willows - Andrew Wigglesworth and Laura Coates - return to Nu Country with a mystery mélange.

They battled their demons on a devil's road with dogs, damsels and fiddles as their angels of the night.

Devil's Road is the fifth and final single on their second album Before Darkness Comes A-Calling.

The duo is joined in the video by Americana duo, Great Aunt , who specialize in an Alt-Folk/Gospel sound.

Andrew and Laura wrote the song with Mornington Peninsula singer-songwriter and video director Lachlan Bryan.

They previously appeared on Nu Country with their videos The Pale Rider and Travelling Man and The Roses Fall and Golden Days with Allan Caswell.

The Weeping Willows have been nominated for five Golden Guitar awards and four CMC Awards.

The bluegrass duet's peers the Dead Livers have resisted the temptation to re-release their Shotgun Willie Nelson inspired 1981 hit I'd Love To Have A Joint With Willie as a tribute to recently fallen West Coast Eagles star Willie Rioli.

Further info - http://www.theweepingwillows.com.au/#home

TEXAN WATSON TRYING LIKE THE DEVIL

West Texan Aaron Watson extends our demonic theme when he tries like the devil and the late Johnny Cash to be a good man in his latest video.

The Amarillo born singer honours the late Guy Clark on his 14th album Red Bandana.

Trying Like The Devil is one of 20 songs the 41-year-old wrote for his album.

“I'm very sentimental and nostalgic and emotional - I watch a movie and I tear up and my kids are laughing at me,” Watson confessed.

“But I wanted to give fans a more mature album than anything I've ever put out this time and give them something that's different but still my brand of music. The train in the song Trying Like The Devil - that's the train that passes right by my ranch, so I hear that train every day. I hear it in the middle of the night lying in bed.”

CLICK HERE for a Watson CD feature in the Diary on July 15.

SALTBUSH SIX BEYOND THE RANCH

Queensland quintet Saltbush Six carry on a proud tradition started by their seventies outlaw country pioneers - Melbourne band Saltbush.

They even share a producer - expatriate Saltbush pedal steel guitarist Mark Moffatt - in Nashville.

The band arose from the ashes of expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban's eighties band The Ranch and its predecessor The Ayres Rockettes.

Saltbush Six drummer Peter Clarke was in both bands before Urban joined Moffatt in expat Australasian Barry Coburn's publishing and studio stable in Nashville.

Peter and Keith also invaded Nu Country FM's studio on Beer Can Hill in 2000 when they climbed a balcony from the Northcote leader car park for an interview.

This time Clarke's combo enjoys a night on the town in their video for You Don't Know Me Lonely from their debut album Beyond The Ranch .

More info - https://www.facebook.com/SaltbushSix/

WHISKEY MYERS HANK JR HOMAGE

Texan band Whiskey Myers hail from Palestine in the Lone Star State - not the holy land.

They group returns to Nu Country TV with their video for Hank - their homage to Hank Williams Jr.

It's on their 2016 Dave Cobb produced album Mud.

The band formed in 2007 and released a new self-titled and produced new CD on September 27.

It features Die Rockin' , written by singer Cody Cannon with veteran Texas outlaw Ray Wylie Hubbard.

“I wrote Die Rockin' with the legendary Ray Wylie Hubbard and it really sums up this rock & roll life of ours. We're consumed by music and are such fans of the legends that came before us,” Cannon revealed.
“We're out there on the road and in the studio trying to pay homage to those greats that have inspired this generation while we strive to create some magic of our own.”

Cody wrote five of the fourteen tracks solo and guitarist John Jeffers contributed three.

Whiskey Myers also worked with songwriters Brent Cobb, Adam Hood, Dave Kennedy, Aaron Raitiere, and performer Tennessee Jet on the album.

The band sang of being raised on a prison farm in their video for Ballad Of A Southern Man from their second album Firewater in Behind Bars on their previous Nu Country appearance on July 18, 2015.

Further info - www.whiskeymyers.com

ERIN ENDERLIN BROKEN

Arkansas traveller Erin Enderlin returns live to Behind Bars and reveals how she cut a painful broken limb from her family tree.

History repeated for the 36-year-old singer on Broken - a highlight of her second album Whiskeytown Crier.

She previously appeared in Behind Bars in March with Ain't It Just Like a Cowboy and World Without Willie with Tara Thompson.

Erin toured with Shotgun Willie Nelson on his Country Throwdown tour and fellow outlaw Jamey Johnson who produced Whiskeytown Crier .

Further info - https://www.erinenderlin.com/

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support in Nu Country TV's 41st series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.

You can join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales.

Also Kip Moore's third album Slowheart , thanks to EMI promotions chief Dave Parker, and Blake Shelton's 12th CD If I'm Honest from Karen Black and Tony Midolo at Warner Music.

We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing membership.

They include Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.

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