DAVE'S DIARY - 13/2/12 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 11 - SERIES 17
TOURISTS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
March international
tourists Faith Hill and Eilen Jewell headline Nu Country TV this Wednesday
February 15 at 10 p m on C 31.
Prolific Golden Guitarist Troy Cassar-Daley - also touring here in March
- returns to the show with Kasey Chambers.
Troy's guitarist and former Star Maker winner Luke Austen showcases a
song penned by Cassar-Daley.
Former Air Supply singer Russell Hitchcock debuts with a video shot in
Nashville on a show repeated Friday at 1.30 a.m.
And former Queenslander 8 Ball Aitken returns on a show hosted by Aila
Serrano and edited by her teacher Ashley Hall.
TROY DECAMPS IN GETAWAY CAR
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When
Troy Cassar-Daley produced eighth album Home in Nashville he
had no idea he would share his album title with Dierks Bentley - making
his second Australian tour in March with Lee Kernaghan. Troy, 43 and father of two, wrote his title track about hometown Grafton on the banks of the Clarence River. Dierks, 35 and born in Tempe, Arizona, wrote his eighth album title track about flying over his birthplace. Cassar-Daley wrote three new songs - include a Merle Haggard tribute - with local hit writers during his three-month sojourn last year in Music City. |
But he also
wrote songs about the Brisbane River floods, a docco on the Cape cattle
country in Queensland and his wife Laurel Edwards - a singer and breakfast
DJ on former Brisbane country station 4KQ.
Troy releases his album here in March and is touring the east coast with
Sandringham born former jillaroo Harmony James who has just released her
second album Handfuls Of Sky.
But this week we revisit a classic video of former Nu Country TV host
Troy and South Australian raised mother of three Kasey Chambers on Getaway
Car.
CLICK
HERE for an exclusive new interview with Troy about Home.
LUKE - PARKED UNDERGROUND IN AN AUSTEN
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Troy’s
guitarist Luke Austen, one of the stars of last week’s Whittlesea
festival, returns to the show with a song inspired by his coal-miner
dad.
The 2010 Star Maker winner performs in the video for Two Miles Down - penned by Troy. Luke, 31, is well qualified to sing about subterranean mining - his dad was a coal miner before becoming a truckie. The Grafton born singer and father of one is touring to promote second album Light Of Day.
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But it was during his six years with Troy he developed his songwriting and guitar prowess that earned him a spot on the Whittlesea Festival last weekend.
CLICK
HERE for a Luke CD review from the Diary on November 25, 2010.
AITKEN - NO LONGER BEHIND THE 8-BALL
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When
8-Ball Aitken grew up on the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland
he found fertile fodder for his songs. Now, six albums down the Lost Highway, the singer has released Alive In Tamworth - recorded in the Peel River city where he now hangs his hat. 8-Ball has frequently taken his colourful show on the international circuit and made one of his humorous videos in the other county musical capital - Nashville. He has also played the prestige Americana festival in Guitar Town, Folk Alliance in Memphis, Canadian Music Week, Scandinavia and far flung parts of Europe. It's a far cry from his thankless backbreaking work at 15 as a mango and banana picker in Johland. |
Aitken is one of our best examples of writing about his life on the road and marketing it with imaginative video clips.
Nobody
Looks Ugly After Midnight, Chocolate, Jack Daniels And LSD, Pit Bull Is
Off The Chain, Honk Stomp, Spooky Swampy Country Rock Blues and We
Are The Circus are salient signposts to the life of 8-Ball out of
the pocket.
8 Ball, like Troy and other peers, is also a flood victim.
He recorded The Tamworth Tapes in local Enrec Studio and sent album
masters and artwork to CD duplication company Select Media in West End,
Brisbane.
The albums were due to be collected for shipping to Tamworth on the eve
of the 2011 festival but the building was evacuated because of the floods.
The initial run, worth $25,000, sank without trace.
But Aitken sourced more CDs from a Sydney-based manufacturer for the festival.
8 Ball made advance copies of the album and sold them as personally autographed,
special Official 2011 Queensland Flood Souvenir CDs.
He previously lost $6000 worth of CDs in the 2010 Nashville floods.
"I guess my music is all about getting your feet wet," said
8 Ball who appears this week with some animated mates in the video for
Hit The Road from The Tamworth Tapes.
Further info - www.8ballaitken.com
AIR SUPPLY IN THE COUNTRY
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Former
Air Supply singer Russell Hitchcock followed his heart and many peers
when he recorded his latest solo album in Nashville. We showcase his video for Far Enough Way From Colorado from his new album Tennessee - The Nashville Sessions. Harmony singer Wes Hightower wrote the song with Don Poythress, Jimmy Ritchey and his producer Rob Rappaport. Hitchcock, 62 and born in Melbourne, formed Air Supply with Graham Russell after they met in the 1975 production of Jesus Christ Superstar. |
The singer
has made three solo albums after topping charts with songs from the 15
Air Supply albums.
Hitchcock, a prefect of Princess Hill High School, chose to make country
his latter career creative font.
His 20-track album, produced by Rappaport at famed Curb Studio, has a
twin bonus five song DVD on the Better Angels label in Nashville.
It includes other songs including the Hal Ketchum-John Thompson tune May
The Best Man Win and Cash's Last Days.
Further info - www.russellhitchcock.com
FAITH HILL - THIS KISS
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When
Faith Hill recorded New York born Annie Roboff song This Kiss
it won acclaim for including the "centrifugal motion" lyric. That was early in the career of the Mississippi born minstrel, touring here with singing actor husband Tim McGraw in March. Faith, who now has a second Melbourne concert on March 21 with Tim, is promoting new single Come Home that she premiered on the CMA Awards in November. But we feature Faith this week in the This Kiss on a rocket ship in the Garden Of Eden. Hill was born in Ridgeland, raised in Star and left home for Nashville at 19 after being raised by her adoptive parents. She sang demos for a publishing company before winning acclaim at the famed Bluebird Café performing songs by former Pure Prairie League singer Gary Burr. |
The five-time
Grammy winner wed music publisher Daniel Hill in 1988 but they divorced
in 1994 before she met McGraw.
Hill, who took a six-year break from recording while raising the couple's
three daughters, scored several hit duets with McGraw and has sold 40
million albums.
She hopes to have a new single from eighth album Illusion, released
on February 28, to promote here.
Meanwhile her duet on A Showman's Life with Texan rancher George
Strait's 39th album Here For A Good Time is scoring airplay.
CLICK HERE for a Faith
Hill interview in the Diary on September 21, 2005.
EILEN JEWELL - WARNING SIGNS
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Boston belle
Eilen Jewell performs in the video for new song Warning Signs from
her fourth album Queen Of The Minor Key.
Boise born Eilen is accompanied in her voodoo video by rattlesnakes and
black widow spiders.
The album features guest vocalists including Zoe Muth and Big Sandy from
Big Sandy and the Fly-Rite Boys.
Eilen won an enthusiastic following on her previous tour at the Port Fairy
and Mossvale folk festivals and the East Brunswick Club.
Since then she has released her Loretta Lynn tribute disc Butcher Holler
in 2010 and new disc Queen Of The Minor Key.
Her songs have also appeared on TV shows True Blood, Hellcats and
Earth Hour.
CLICK HERE for Anne Sydenham's
concert review of Eilen on March 12, 2010.
CLICK HERE
for a CD Review from The Diary.
WIN
TIM MCGRAW NEW PRIZES
We have great news for country music lovers - Sony Music has donated copies
of singing actor Tim McGraw's 11th CD Emotional Traffic on the
eve of his second Australian tour in March.
The album debuted at #1 on the U.S. charts and Sony promotions chief Natalie
Dillon has given us copies.
Tim and singing spouse Faith Hill perform at Rod Laver Arena with the
Texan Eli Young Band on March 20 and March 21.
The trio also headline the second CMC Rocks The Hunter festival from March
16-18.
Emotional Traffic sold 67,000 units on debut and features Tim's
latest hits Better Than I Used To Be and Felt Good On My Lips.
There's also a duet on Only Human with singing actor Ne-Yo - an
R & B star.
McGraw has released a new single Halo - penned by expatriate Adelaide
singer-guitarist Jedd Hughes, who also plays CMC Rocks The Hunter, and
Luke Laird.
All you have to do is either become a member of Nu Country TV or renew
your membership.
It costs just $20.
Please send a cheque or money order made out to Nu Country Music to us
at P O Box 625 - Northcote - 3070.
We also now have electronic banking for membership payment and renewal.
MIRANDA LAMBERT PRIZES
Grammy award
winning Texan star Miranda Lambert cancelled her 2010 tour at the 11th
hour - because of a respiratory ailment.
But we have good news for Lambert fans - we have her award winning fourth
album Revolution as a prize for viewers who renew Nu Country TV
memberships or become members.
Sony has also given us multiple CMA Award winner Miranda's DVD - Revolution:
Live By Candlelight.
The DVD features rare acoustic performances of six songs White Liar,
The House That Built Me, Love Song, Heart Like Mine, Love Is Looking At
You and Rolling Stones country classic Dead Flowers.
WIN KEITH URBAN CDS
Expatriate
Australasian superstar Keith Urban is recovering from throat surgery.
To celebrate Keith's record company EMI-Capitol has great news for Nu
Country TV viewers.
Promotions ace Bianca O'Neill donated autographed copies of his huge selling
ninth album Get Closer.
She also donated new compilation Very Best Of Slim Dusty.
All you have to do to win McGraw, Lambert, Urban and Dusty CDS or the
Lambert DVD is become a member of Nu Country or renew membership.
But email us first at music@nucountry.com.au
as stocks are limited.
Other prizes
on offer include -
Eric Church - Chief
Luke Bryan - Tailgates & Tanlines.
Taylor Swift - 2ND CD Fearless.
Tim McGraw Southern Voice Tour CD with 11-bonus video clips.
Felicity - Landing Lights
Air Supply singer Russell Hitchcock - Tennessee - The Nashville Sessions
CD and DVD
Slim Dusty Sittin' On 80 Boxed Set
The Very Best Of Slim Dusty
Catherine Britt - Little Wildflowers.
Compilation CDS.