DAVE'S DIARY - 19/6/07 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 3 - SERIES 8
JONI HARMS HOSTS NU COUNTRY TV
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Oregon
country singer and quarter horse breeder Joni Harms took time out
from a hectic promo tour schedule to host Nu Country TV this Saturday
- June 23 - on C 31. The show airs at 8 p m and is repeated for insomniacs and shift workers on Thursday at 2 am. That time slot will be familiar for listeners of the now defunct Nu Country FM when the late DJ Peter Cresp-Gerrard showcased Joni's music on his eclectic Music After Midnight show at Beer Can Hill. Heather Rutherford - a fellow DJ - filmed Joni's hosting role at a Southgate café. |
Harms, a
former North West Rodeo Queen and mother of two, has released 10 stone
country albums in a career dating back to her debut single I Need A
Wife in 1989.
The singer filmed a new video clip for her single Cowboy Up at
Widgee near Gympie in Queensland.
Harms made her Australian debut at the famous Gympie Muster in 2005.
Cowboy Up is from her ninth album Let's Put The Western Back
In Country that was released on Texas label Wildcatter Records.
Joni and her band Harm's Way plan to expand their touring circuit from
the U.S. and Europe to Australia with a summer sojourn.
Harms and her husband - operator of a lumberyard in Portland - also raise
cattle and grow Christmas trees on their Canby family ranch that was homesteaded
by her great, great grandfather in 1872.
The singer reveals in an interview with Nu Country TV she wrote songs
with writers diverse as former Marshall Tucker Band member George McCorkle,
Wood Newton, Jim Varsos, Kim Tribble, Cyril Rawson and Mentor Williams
at the ranch.
CLICK HERE for a CD review
of Harms in the Diary.
SUNNY SWEENEY DEBUT
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Texan
troubadour Sunny Sweeney debuts on Nu Country with a video clip
of a song by Tim Carroll - singing spouse of Florida born country
singer Elizabeth Cook. Sweeney wrote three songs on her album and also revamped The Next Big Nothing -penned by expatriate Tasmanian Audrey Auld Mezera. |
Audrey recently
moved from Bolinas in northern California to Nashville - home of Carroll
and Cook whose new album Balls features two songs Cook wrote with yet
another Australian singer-songwriter Melinda Schneider.
Sweeney originally released her album as an independent but it was picked
up by Nashville label Big Machine - home of fellow Texan Jack Ingram.
CLICK HERE for a Sweeney
feature from the Diary on April 25, 2007.
Further info - www.sunnysweeney.com
FELICITY RETURNS
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Tamworth
born singer-songwriter Felicity returns to Nu Country with a video
of new song Throw Your Arms Around Me. The song is from Felicity's acclaimed fifth indie album My Life, available on Shock Records. Felicity shared writing with local artists Kevin Bennett, Sam Hawksley, John Kane and Chris Pelcer. |
And she spread
her wings on collaborations with major Nashville tunesmiths Dean Miller,
Jim Lauderdale, Jennifer Kimball and Randy Scruggs.
Felicity, one time Nu Country TV host and regular lifestyle show presenter
on Sydney Weekender, recently performed for Australian troops in the Solomon
Islands.
The singer also toured the U.S. with Sydney western swing band Feral Swing
Katz and opened shows for Waylon & Willie and The Pope in Australia.
CLICK HERE for a Felicity story
from the Diary on June 26, 2003.
RUSTY RICH A SCARED WEIRD LITTLE GUY
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Queensland
born Rusty Rich is such a versatile performer he fronted two bands
at the 31st Port Fairy folk festival. He also presented regular bluegrass shows at Nu Country FM at Beer Can Hill and the salubrious studios at Harley House at the Paris, Texas, end of Collins St. Rusty joined mother Noelene, sister Sherry and her husband Rick Plant in rare gigs by the Rich Family who released an album in 2003 that was on sale at Port Fairy. |
Rare because
Sherry lives in Nashville where Rick plays with artists diverse as Buddy
Miller, Emmylou Harris and Pure Prairie League.
And Noelene - who toured in the sixties with Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay
- chooses warmer climes north of the famed Murray Dixon line.
This Rich family are not related to the former Lonestar singer and prolific
writer John Rich whose duo Big & Rich topped U.S. charts last week
on debut with its third CD Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace.
But Rusty, revered for comedic duo Scared Weird Little Guys, is better
known here on radio and TV as Rusty Berther with performing partner John
Chaplin-Fleming.
The duo, whose first gig was July 17, 1990 at Hilton Comedy room in Melbourne,
has since released three albums and three singles.
Rusty and DJ wife Denise Hylands - host of Twang on 3RRR-FM - provided
us with a video of the duo's much requested Waltzing Matilda.
Further info - http://www.swlg.com.au/