DAVE'S DIARY - 23/11/2015 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 13 - SERIES 28
KEITH URBAN HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV SERIES #28 FINALE
Expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban headlines the Nu Country TV Series #28 finale this Saturday November 28 at 10.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.
Fellow expat Kiwis Marlon Williams and Tami Nielson debut on the show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm, Wednesday 7.30 am and Thursday 3 am.
Texans Hayes Carll and Deryl Dodd perform live Behind Bars in the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Virginian Phil Vassar and CMC Rocks Queensland debutante Kelsea Ballerini also appear in our final spring episode.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Just follow this link on your computer or mobile phone –
http://www.c31.org.au/program/view/program/nu-country-tv
URBAN HONOURS MELLENCAMP, TRACTORS AND BIBLES
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Keith Urban collected some icons in his adoptive home Nashville to adorn his video for John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16.
The father of two showcased a soda fountain, retro cars, tiny town main Street, little league sign and a Laundromat to illustrate his first single from his ninth album Ripcord - sequel to his big selling album Fuse.
It's not clear how often Keith, now 48, and spouse Nicole visit Laundromats during sojourns to their farms near Nashville and the southern NSW tablelands.
But, with frequent flying they may have time to peruse the Bible or listen to Mellencamp who is touring here with Carlene Carter and Jewel in February.
John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 was Urban's 19th No. 1 U.S. his in stellar career.
He performed it live with Mellencamp at the 49th CMA Awards on November 4.
Urban introduced the song at the 2015 Country Radio Seminar in February but was unsure at the time if it would be a hit.
“Maybe two days later, somebody sent me a YouTube link, and that's the first time I actually heard the crowd react to the end of the first chorus,” Urban recalled.
“I thought, ‘Oh, that's a good sign.' It's sort of like the punch line landed, and they laughed.
“It connected in the way I hoped it would,” he continues, “so I think that's probably what had all of us start thinking maybe that's the first song we should get in the studio and work on.”
The song, written by Shane McAnally, Josh Osborne and Ross Copperman, incorporates several different themes into its three and a half minutes.
“John Cougar references all the sort of sexual tension of teenage angst all of us were growing up in,” McAnally said.
”John Deere represents the way that our parents worked and what we saw living in the country, and of course there's the element of religion. And there's irony in John Cougar starting the line and John 3:16 ending the line because that was the push and pull of that teenage thing.”
Urban has since released another single Break On Me .
CLICK HERE for an Urban CD review in The Diary on December 13, 2010.
PHIL VASSAR FINDS LOVE IS ALIVE
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When Virginian singer-songwriter Phil Vassar toured here in 2010 he won fans at CMC Rocks The Snowys in Thredbo by leaping on his piano during his performance.
Vassar, now 51, recalled young love in Lynchburg, in his video for Love Is Alive - the 22 nd single from his eight albums.
On March 26, 2002, Vassar married Julie Wood, with whom co-wrote his singles That's When I Love You and The Woman in My Life.
Vassar and Wood later divorced in 2007.
CLICK HERE for a Vassar interview in The Diary on February 16, 2010.
HAYES CARLL STOMPS AND HOLLERS
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Texan Hayes Carll didn't have a piano to leap on during his 2012 Australian tour with Hunter Valley singer-songwriter Kirsty Lee Akers.
But he was front and centre when he played Northcote Social Club on Beer Can Hill and the Wannon Room at the Warrnambool Greyhound Club on the Shipwreck Coast.
This week Hayes, now 39, performs Stomp & Holler at the famed Loveless Café on Highway 100 south of Nashville.
Carll was inspiration for singer Beau Hutton played by Garrett Hedlund in Tim McGraw-Gwyneth Paltrow movie Country Strong .
He performed two Carll songs - Hard Out Here and Hide Me Babe - and Hayes sang Take Me Away after being head hunted by Country Strong music director Randall Poster.
Hedlund was also in 2004 McGraw-Billy Bob Thornton film Friday Night Lights and played Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac movie On The Road .
Carll now lives in Austin - the city where he once sold vacuum cleaners.
After the success of his 4 th album KMAG ?? YOYO he broke up with Lost Highway Records and divorced his wife.
CLICK HERE for an exclusive Hayes Carll interview in the Diary on July 14, 2012.
DERYL DODD BACK TO THE HONKY TONKS
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Fellow Texan Deryl Dodd, now 51, bounced back from divorce and encephalitis at 33 to resurrect his career.
He relearned guitar during a two year rehab off the road from 1998
The grandson of two Pentecostal preachers from Comanche, Texas, performs Back To The Honky Tonks live from Asleep At The Wheel co-founder Ray Benson's Austin roadhouse.
It's on his seventh album Together Again .
Dodd signed to Columbia in 1996 and released two albums before his viral encephalitis but he recovered in 2000 and toured with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and released Pearl Snaps in 2002.
Later, he recorded Live at Billy Bob's Texas, before switching to Dualtone in 2004 to release Stronger Proof (2004) and Full Circle (2006).
In 2009 Dodd released Together Again - originally a hit for Buck Owens - as title track of his album that featured Death, Taxes and Texas .
Dodd charted nine singles on Billboard - A Bitter End , peaked at #26.
Deryl song Message In The Bottle is one of few covers on Better Place To Be - fourth album by expat Texan Doug Bruce who now calls Heathcote home.
CLICK HERE for a Dodd review in The Diary on October 20, 2014.
KELSEA BALLERINI NO HOUDINI
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Tennessean Kelsea Ballerini performs her debut single Love Me Like You Mean It from her album Second Time.
Love Me Like You Mean It reached #1 on Billboard on July 4.
It made her first solo female country artist to score a #1 hit with her debut single since Carrie Underwood with Jesus, Take the Wheel in 2006 and only the eleventh to achieve the feat.
Kelsea, now 22, was born in Mascot and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee
She performs with Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Lee Brice and many more at CMC Rocks Queensland IN March.
She debuted on the Grand Ole Opry on February 14, 2015 and the 49 th CMA awards on November 4 where she was nominated for best female vocalist and new talent.
Further info - http://kelseaballerini.com/
TAMI HOOKS UP WITH A MARLON
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New Zealand singer-songwriter Tami Nielson and expat Kiwi Marlon Williams perform a song started by her late Canadian father.
Tami's dad Ron began writing Lonely in 1972 and recorded the demo outside a hotel room in Canada.
It remained a demo until Tami and her brother Jay discovered it a week after his death.
They finished it for her second album Don't Be Afraid.
Tami performed from the age of 12 in her family band The Neilsons - she had two top 40 singles on Canadian music charts with her family.
She moved to New Zealand in 2007 and won eight Awards for Best Country Album, single and Female Country Artist.
Marlon, 24, was born in Christchurch and grew up in Lyttleton - a picturesque coastal town populated by less than 3000 people.
He released his self-titled debut album in April, a live disc and collaborations with The Unfaithful Ways and Delaney Davidson.
Williams also appears in ABC-TV series The Beautiful Lie and will act in an independent movie shot in New Zealand.
Further info - http://www.tamineilson.com/
Further info - www.marlonwilliams.co.nz
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support as we celebrate the 28th series of Nu Country TV.
Australian record companies and artists have joined forces to ensure our survival.
We're pleased to announce Sony has given us the latest CD and DVD by Georgian star Jason Aldean on the eve of his debut Australian tour in March.
We also have Angels And Alcohol - the 20th album by fellow Georgian superstar Alan Jackson.
Also new CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your membership.
They include singing actors Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw and Toby Keith, Voice judge Blake Shelton, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Charley Pride and more.
We also have a Lady Antebellum DVD.