DAVE'S DIARY - 21 DECEMBER 2004 - SUMMER TOURS
RADIO
RESURRECTS KEITH URBAN
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Expatriate
Australasian country superstar Keith Urban has finally scored major
airplay in Australia - more than a decade after his debut CD in
1991. |
It's perfect timing for Urban who headlines St Kilda Palais on Saturday
February 26.
Urban's third album Keith Urban scored platinum status, fourth
disc Golden Road double platinum and current Grammy-nominated album
Be Here is platinum after only 10 weeks.
Be Here sold 148,000 copies in its first week of release leaving
him just behind Green Day's American Idiot that debuted at #1 on
the Billboard 200 and Nelly's Suit at #2 in its second week of release.
Days Go By - his 5th #1 hit and eighth consecutive #5 smash - also
topped U.S. charts for four weeks and preceded his new hit single You're
My Better Half.
Ironically, his success has also been a gold mine for fellow expatriates
Barry Coburn and singing spouse Jewel Blanch Coburn - a fellow child prodigy
as a singing actress in Hollywood and beyond.
The Coburns have promoted Urban's lucrative publishing catalogue since
his arrival in Music City in 1992.
SHOTGUN WILLIE NELSON COMPETES
Urban competes
with veteran singing Texan actor Shotgun Willie Nelson and chart topper
Gretchen Wilson who perform Myer Music Bowl from February 25-27 on the
Melbourne International Music Festival.
The other major country artist on the bill is internationally acclaimed
band The Waifs who are on Harvard educated MBA and banjo wizard Alison
Brown's Compass Label in the U.S.
This seasonal country music flood over summer is good for fans and a dilemma
for seasoned Sydney promoter Michael Chugg.
Chugg is promoting the triumphant homecoming tour for Urban and bringing
Shotgun Willie and Redneck Woman Gretchen here for the Myer Bowl spectacular.
Urban competes with Willie, 71, and Wilson, 32, for the country music
bucks on a musical shootout.
Now, if Urban wins more commercial airplay he would sell out the Palais
and Chugg would not be stranded like a Van Diemen's Land whale.
That would enable Chugg to add Urban to his Bowl gig for a cameo in the
afternoon.
Instead he will be flying in from Adelaide to ramp up the Palais box office
- his latest single You're My Better Half soared into Billboard
top 10 in the slipstream of his #1 hit Days Gone By.
The other alternative is a Sabbath cameo en route to his evening gig in
Canberra.
Urban may be an energetic guitar slinger but that might test his stamina
and personal trainer who might perceive it as character building.
TV TO RESCUE OF CATHERINE BRITT
| Newcastle
novitiate Catherine Britt is making a whirlwind tour of NSW on the
eve of release of her second album Too Far Gone. Catherine, 19, spends Christmas with her parents Steve and Anne, before a U.S. tour to promote a new single and the album. This follows an extensive U.S. radio campaign that landed debut U.S. single Upside Of Being Down at #34 on the U.S. charts. CMT aired the world premiere of her video for the song on December 2 with added distinction of inviting Catherine into the studio for the first airing - a privilege usually for established stars. |
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But she became
the first new artist invited for a world premiere on CMT.
The video was filmed in the legendary Tootsies bar on Lower Broadway in
Nashville.
During the year Catherine spent time on her tour bus and planes visiting
radio stations and media in about 60 cities where she performed acoustic
shows for radio stations in a variety of forums from outdoor shows to
their listeners to in their conference room to the staff or on her tour
bus to important program directors.
Catherine worked to set up release of the album and won hearts and attention
of many of the most influential people in country music.
Commercial radio has ignored Britt in her homeland so her whirlwind tour
is promoted by PAY-TV show CMC.
She is performing four dates in NSW - Sydney Basement - January 6 with
co-producer Bill Chambers, Newcastle - January 7, Ettalong Beach - January
14 and Tamworth on January 16.
SEE HONKY TONK GIRL GIG GUIDE
for full details.
CLICK HERE for a recent
feature on Catherine in the DIARY on October 21.
TERRI CLARK STOPPED BY MURRAY DIXON LINE
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Chart
topping Canadian chanteuse Terri Clark won't venture south of the
Murray Dixon line in Albury on her third Australian tour in April. CMC is also promoting Clark's tour after she was ignored by commercial radio. Clark played Geelong and Horsham on her most recent tour but lack of airplay meant lower ticket sales than expected. Terri is touring to promote her sixth album - a Greatest Hits - and her single Girls Lie Too. She starts her tour on Wednesday April 6 at Albury PAC and also plays local star Lee Kernaghan's Great Western Hotel in Rockhampton on Saturday April 16. |
See
TONK GIRL'S gig guide for full details.
The Montreal born minstrel's adventures have been chronicled in her songs
and the book Phases & Stages.
Clark is indebted to Melbourne bred diva Tina Arena for her song Unsung
Heroes.
And Sydney writers Vanessa Corish and Paul Begaud for their song Now
That I Found You - a top 5 hit for Clark.
"Tina's song is a real tribute to heroes, people who stand behind
others and don't always get all the credit," Clark, 37, told Nu Country
on her previous tour.
CLICK HERE for a Clark feature from the DIARY on December 15, 2003.