DAVE'S DIARY - 25 JUNE 2016 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 5 - SERIES 30
WARNING - SIX PACK OF DRINKING SONGS ON NU COUNTRY TV
We feature a six pack of drinking songs as a health warning to thirsty viewers on Nu Country TV this Wednesday June 29 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.
Two singers from Illinois, whose capital city Chicago was Al Capone's HQ during prohibition, kick off the show that is repeated at the apt Kris Kristofferson Sunday Morning Coming Down time of 4am on the Sabbath.
Margo Price hails from Buffalo Prairie and sings how she is Hurting On The Bottle and Brett Eldredge locks his brother in a cell in his video for Drunk On Your Love .
Californian singing actor Leslie Cours Mather performs That Was The Whiskey and Michigan minstrel Frankie Ballard recalls It All Started With A Beer in our equally apt Behind Bars segment.
Yarraville duo Patsy & Dave, also known as The Long & Short Of It, busked in Nashville in their video for 50 Bucks And A Case Of Beer.
And West Texan Josh Abbott pleads he Wasn't That Drunk on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
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/series/487
FOR MARGO THE PRICE OF DRINKING IS RIGHT
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Outlaw woman Margo Price debuts with Hurting On The Bottle from her acclaimed first album Mid-West Farmer's Daughter. Price, 33, was discovered by Jack White who also produced octogenarian Kentucky Coal-Miner's daughter Loretta Lynn's Grammy winning CD Van Lear Rose. She cut the album at the famed Sun Studios in Memphis where the late Johnny Cash, his Australian touring partner Cowboy Jack Clement, Jerry Lee Lewis and a young Elvis Presley made their recording debut. Price grew up in small town Aledo where she played piano, sang in a church choir, studied dance and theatre and moved to Nashville at 20. Margo started Buffalo Clover with husband-guitarist Jeremy Ivey and released three albums and fronted Margo & The Price-tags whose members included Sturgill Simpson and Kenny Vaughan. |
Midwest Farmer's Daughter, on Third Man Records, graphically depicts her 12 years of living hard in Nashville.
"I used to write story-songs, about a couple robbing a bank or whatever," says Price whose dad worked as a prison guard after having to sell the family farm when she was two.
"But I decided I'm going to go ahead and lay it all out on the line here. And it felt really good, really therapeutic." Price, who spent a weekend in gaol on drink driving charges and hocked her car and wedding ring to pay for her Sun sessions, says the late Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings are her biggest heroes.
"A lot of times, people say, 'You're so much like Loretta or Tammy Wynette,'" says Price.
"But I feel kind of like one of the men. I'm like David Allan Coe. I've been to prison, man! I think that's what separated me from the Kacey Musgraves, stuff like that. There's not a lot of glitter or girly bows and stuff."
Further info - http://margoprice.net/
BRETT ELDREDGE PUTS BROTHER BRICE BEHIND BARS
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Brett Eldredge acted out many peers' dreams - he locked up his younger brother in his video for Drunk On Your Love.
Eldredge performed as a cop and a singer - trying to woo the same girl - in a night out on the town.
But Eldredge doesn't play the convict - that was his brother Brice.
"I loved being the cop and arresting my brother," joked Eldredge, 30, from Paris, Illinois.
"They told Brice, 'act like you're resisting,' so I got to rough him up a little bit too and give him some jabs back. I had to cuff him - I tried to act like I was legitimately arresting somebody, but I could not figure out the handcuffs to save my life. We were all laughing."
The video was shot in Charleston, South Carolina, and inspired by 1996 film Multiplicity .
Drunk On Your Love is the second single on Brett's second album Illinois.
Brett has strong links with bluegrass.
His cousin Terry plays with the famed Grascals who also perform with singing actress Dolly Parton.
Brett's song-writing credits include I Think I've Had Enough - a track on Gary Allan's Get Off on the Pain album.
He debuted on Nu Country in 2011 with a war song dating back to 1943.
Eldredge took viewers inside a nursing home in the video for Raymond - poignant tale of a nursing home employee mistaken by a patient with Alzheimer's for her deceased son, who was killed at war.
Further info - www.bretteldredge.com
WHISKEY LANDS LESLIE COURS MATHER BEHIND BARS
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Californian singing actor Leslie Cours Mather blames hard liquor for her hell raising when she performs her video for That Was The Whiskey from her debut album Countrified in Behind Bars .
Mather, daughter of an American Army Lieutenant Colonel, has seen the perils of alcohol throughout the world in her travels.
Leslie was born in Singapore and lived in Indonesia, Virginia, Nashville, Orlando, New Jersey, St Louis, South Carolina, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
She previously appeared on Nu Country TV with Hell Hath No Fury , filmed on Sierra Highway in California, and the title track of her album .
Further info - http://www.lesliecoursmather.com/
FRANKIE BALLARD STARTS WITH A BEER
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Michigan born Frankie Ballard blames his woes on amber liquid in his latest video featured in Behind Bars.
It All Started With a Beer - penned by Jeremy Stover and Cadillac Three singers Jaren Johnston and Neil Mason -is on the 33 year old singer's third album El Rio out last week.
Ballard's fans enjoyed a 10-day tracking session at the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas.
His band was encouraged to bring cherished instruments and gear for rehearsal stops at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studios Sheffield, Alabama, and Granada Theatre in Dallas.
“I knew sitting in that room at Muscle Shoals, my producer Marshall Altman, the band and all those guys are like me,” Ballard said.
“They grew up obsessing about this kind of stuff. This is where the Rolling Stones cut Brown Sugar . What those heroes of ours did there was all right in the front of our mind while we were arranging these new songs. Musical inspiration is everything. It's our spinach. Musicians rise to those kinds of moments and we use those kinds of moments like lifelines.”
Ballard also filmed a video for the Chris Stapleton-Lee Thomas Miller penned title track.
Stapleton, Johnston and Kip Moore also wrote Cigarette and Chris Janson, Ben Hayslip and Craig Wiseman wrote Little Bit of Both .
Frankie debuted on Nu Country with Tell Me You Get Lonely from his self-titled debut album on July 30, 2011.
He was discovered by Kenny Chesney in his Big Star contest after releasing indie EP Electric Hillbilly , and hails from Battle Creek.
"It's the cereal capital of the world," said Ballard.
" Kellogg's and Post are both there. Downtown smells like cornflakes. It's blue-collar, man. It's blue-collar. It's very laidback with a lot of hard-working people. My parents still live in the same house I was raised in. It's very down-home."
Further info - www.frankieballard.com
BUSKING LAWYER AND SINGER SIGNWRITER ON BROADWAY
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Yarraville singer-signwriter Dave Baird and Williamstown lawyer Patsy Toop swapped professions for busking on Broadway - in Nashville - not New York.
Their video for 50 Bucks And A Case of Beer showcased their earning power in Music City
It's on latest album You Made Me Stronger - co-written with Nashville producer and friend Kenny Royster - and released here in late July.
Busking is not new for Patsy and Dave, known as The Long & Short of It .
Many moons ago they appeared on TV busking show Australia's Got Talent .
Dave and Patsy - mother of four children and an award winning Williamstown lawyer - joined forces after meeting through music.
She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in recognition of her trailblazing litigation work and volunteering.
Patsy was recognised for 34 years' legal work representing workers' human rights in cases of asbestos-related and chemical-induced illnesses.
She was founding board member and passionate volunteer for Seaworks Foundation that supports restoration and preservation of Williamstown's maritime precinct.
Patsy sold her practice to Slater & Gordon in 2015 to concentrate on music and family.
It was impeccable timing as stock market connoisseurs noted.
“I love the law and do miss it but I am now concentrating on the music with Dave,” Patsy revealed.
“We're working on a studio in Yarraville to provide a performance space for independent musicians. This project is taking a lot of time.”
Further info - www.thelongandshortofit.com.au
JOSH ABBOTT WASN'T THAT DRUNK
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Josh Abbott Band hails from Lubbock in West Texas and performs Wasn't That Drunk from fourth album Front Row Seat .
The sextet's album captures a failed relationship separated into five theatrical acts in 16 songs, based on Josh's failed marriage to former wife Amanda in 2010.
Josh's band also performed the song with Carly Pearce on Jimmy Kimmel Live on May 31.
Abbott, 35, confessed to booze fuelled infidelity after his career took off - his EP Tuesday Night debuted at #12 on Billboard .
“We want this to be an album that continues to sell and continues to stream,” Abbott revealed.
“Our band is really focused on the long run.”
Front Row Seat's 16 songs are designed for chronological listening - not just lyrically but musically.
The disc begins with upbeat, fiddle-heavy tracks that represent Abbott in college and the early days of the band.
It segues into mid-tempo ballads and material that reflects his wife's love story and echoes the band's previous work.
“The back half of the album enters a land that our band hasn't ventured into just yet in terms of sound, in terms of dark subject matter and tones,” Abbott explained and is where his relationship starts to go south.
The album then shows the evolution and dissolution of a marriage as well as the maturation and potential future of the band.
Abbott joins many Texas artists with international success including Waylon & Willie, George Jones, Kenny Rogers, Dixie Chicks, Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert and now Maren Morris.
“That's the goal, you know. We signed the deal so we could take the music to more people and succeed on a national level. On our own terms. We want to release a song that's not just a Texas No. 1 but a national No. 1,” Abbott added.
“Anybody can put together a band and learn a bunch of other people's songs, but what separates you from other people is if you write your own songs. In Texas, that's what weeds you out.
“We're not millionaires, but we make good money and have a great fan base. I always thought, ‘As long as I can make $50,000 a year doing music that beats an office job for sure.' Any night we get to do this it's all good.”
Further info - http://www.joshabbottband.com/
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support as we celebrate Nu Country TV's 30 th series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.
Warner Brothers promo wizard Tony Midolo has given us Blake Shelton's CD If I'm Honest and Sony has donated the latest CD and DVD by Georgian star Jason Aldean.
We also have Angels And Alcohol - 20th album by fellow Georgian superstar Alan Jackson and Adam Harvey's 12th album Harvey's Bar - The Backyard Sessions .
Also new CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing membership.
They include singing actors Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw and Toby Keith, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Charley Pride and more.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.