DAVE'S DAIRY - 20/4/14 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 8 - SERIES 22

HARD HATS AND HAMMERS AND SHOVELS & ROPE ON NU COUNTRY TV

Georgian superstar Alan Jackson headlines Nu Country TV with a blue collar ballad on Thursday April 24 at 10 30 pm on Channel 31.

Americana duo Shovels & Rope continue the tools of trade theme on the show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm.

Hank Williams Jr and the late Waylon Jennings are joined by octogenarian Loretta Lynn and Jack White in Behind Bars filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

Adelaide Hills raised singer-songwriter Liam Gerner sings of a different Hank & Tammy in a Texan crime spree.

And Florida icons The Mavericks return with a dual Grammy award winning song from a new disc.

Nu Country TV has been added to the C 31 streaming list.

Just follow this link on your computer or mobile phone - http://www.c31.org.au/program/view/program/nu-country-tv

ALAN JACKSON BLUE COLLAR BLISS

Alan Jackson reaches back to his roots when he wore a hard hat and wielded a hammer in a flashback to his 20th album Freight Train from 2010

The son of a motor mechanic topped charts with Hard Hat And A Hammer before the first of his two tours.

Jackson was recently bumped from atop bluegrass charts in February by Rhonda Vincent who enlisted Shotgun Willie Nelson as a duet partner.

The singer now plays second fiddle on those charts to banjo playing comedic actor Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

Jackson, 55 and father of three daughter won wide acclaim after being discovered by expat Australasian Barry Coburn in 1987.

CLICK HERE for a Jackson interview in The Diary on October 24, 2010.

CLICK HERE for a Jackson CD review in The Diary on August 25, 2012

SHOVELS & ROPE CHART ANCHOR

Americana duo Shovels & Rope prove you can work safely with kids and animals in debut video Birmingham from second CD O' Be Joyful.

The kids brought home the bacon and the dog for the duo.

Shovels & Rope - Michael Trent and wife Cary Ann Hearst - are from Charleston , South Carolina .

Hearst performed as a solo artist for several years while Trent played in the group The Films .

Trent also released two solo albums, Michael Trent and The Winner .

In 2008 they released their debut album Shovels & Rope.

They followed in 2012 with O' Be Joyful and reached #123 on Billboard 200.

The duo's network TV debut was on Late Show with David Letterman , January 30, 2013.

Further info - www.shovelsandrope.com

HANK JR AND WAYLON CONVERSATION BEHIND BARS

Hank Williams Jr and the late Waylon Jennings explore a little history Behind Bars in their historic hit The Conversation.

It was on 1983 disc Waylon And Company.

Waylon died at 64 on February 13, 2002, and Hank Jr, 64, has released 52 albums including 127 Rose Avenue in 2010.

The title track is about his childhood home that is now a country museum.

After a colourful career littered with battles with the bottle and dope, a near fatal fall at 26 from Ajax Mountain , Montana , on August 8, 1975, and four failed marriages, he could be excused for gaps in withdrawals from his memory bank.

CLICK HERE for a Hank Jr CD review in The Diary on February 16, 2010.

CLICK HERE for a Barbara Dowling Waylon feature in The Diary on October 7, 2012.

LORETTA REVISITS PORTLAND , OREGON

Loretta Lynn and producer Jack White's band tour Portland , Oregon , from her 56th album Van Lear Rose in 2004.

Great grandmother Lynn wrote all 13 songs including the duet with youngster White on their raunchy, drunken one night stand anthem, Portland Oregon .

White produced the disc on Interscope-Universal in 12 days at the East Nashville home studio of Eric McConnell.

Loretta turned 82 on April 14 and proved she can still sing despite a spate of health scares dating back to the seventies - in 1970 she cut Coal Miner's Daughter .

But she was fit and cooking the night I visited her Hurricane Mills dude ranch in 1978 as chauffeur for the late Johnny Russell for a boy scouts concert.

A very humble Loretta and late husband Mooney served us steak and chicken at midnight.

Russell, writer of Act Naturally - a recidivist hit for the late Buck Owens, The Beatles and Ringo Starr - singing partner Beverly Heckel, fellow hit singer Kenny Starr and this writer feasted with glee.

That was also locale of her Coal Miner's Daughter video and John Carter Cash produced 2011 tribute disc featuring Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow.

It was a sequel to 1980 Coal Miner's Daughter movie starring Sissy Spacek as Loretta, Tommy Lee Jones as husband Doolittle and late Levon Helm as her father Tedd Webb.

CLICK HERE for a Loretta feature in The Diary on February 2, 2011.

LIAM GERNER RESURRECTS ANOTHER HANK & TAMMY

Adelaide Hills born Liam Gerner excels in his tale about two elderly dope mules - Hank & Tammy - running ice & speed from Mexico-Miami.

The senior citizens retirement scheme became a bad dream when they crash their RV into a Texas judge's ranch home.

The moral of the story - don't work for Mexican cartels if you can't get the pension.

You go straight to gaol without passing Go.

It's on Liam's new album Land Of No Roads.

CLICK HERE for a Liam CD review in The Diary on March 5.

THE MAVERICKS REVIVE DUAL GRAMMY WINNER

The Mavericks honour Glen Campbell with a new live version of a John Hartford gem.

Gentle On My Mind won Grammys for both the late bluegrass singer and Arkansas born star Glen Campbell in 1968.

Hartford wrote it after seeing the Doctor Zhivago movie

The song earned him huge royalties as theme for Glen's long running TV show

It was covered by 300 other artists including Dean Martin, Patti Page, Elvis, Roger Miller, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Cash, Andy and Lucinda Williams.

Singer Raul Malo, who cut six solo albums in the Mavericks' decade long hiatus after six studio discs and two live albums between 1991 and 2003, also owes a debt to Campbell.

"I think part of it at least for me is just that - that it's not something that people would normally hear us play," Malo, now 48, says of their version of Gentle On My Mind .

"That to me makes it a perfect candidate for us to play! And at the end of the day, it's a beautiful song. It's one of my favourite songs that really turned me on as a kid to country music. And of course Glen Campbell is one of our heroes."

"Somebody told me the other day that when they listen to the new record, it takes them somewhere that they may not necessarily have ever been, but it feels so familiar in so many ways. And to me that's a beautiful compliment. Because my favourite music I think does that. It transports us somewhere and it makes us feel like we've been there even though perhaps we never have. And if you can make people feel that with your music, I think that's a mission accomplished. I can't sit here and say 'Well, I think it'll tear your heart out.' I just hope it resonates with people."

CLICK HERE for a Mavericks feature on their seventh album In Time in The Diary on February 27, 2013.

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate our 22nd series of Nu Country TV.

Australian record companies and artists have joined forces to ensure our survival.

We have 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 and Tim McGraw, Voice judge Blake Shelton, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Gary Allan, Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Chris Young, Charley Pride, Slim Dusty, Eli Young Band, Rosanne Cash and more.

We also have the latest John Denver all-star tribute album and DVDS by Lady Antebellum.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.

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