DAVE'S DIARY - 26/2/2018 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 12 - SERIES 34
GEORGIAN LUKE BRYAN HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Georgian singer-songwriter Luke Bryan headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday March 3 at 9 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44, on the eve of his debut Australian tour.
Louisiana born singing actor Trace Adkins also returns to the show, repeated Monday at 3 pm.
Kentucky Coalminer's daughter Liz Sharpe and her band Little Feather debut on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Former Australian of The Year Lee Kernaghan and Missouri minstrel Chris Janson perform their latest videos.
And Lismore singer and paramedic Brendan Smoother makes his humorous debut in a video filmed in Jervis Bay . Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
LUKE LIGHTS UP ROOS
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Georgian star Luke Bryan gave his wife Caroline two kangaroo joeys for Christmas on the eve of his debut tour as CMC Rocks Queensland festival headliner at Willowbank, Ipswich , from March 15-18.
Luke filmed his wife putting on a blindfold on Christmas Day while he brought her gift into the room - he told her he was bringing designer purses but the bag on her lap had two baby marsupials.
The Roos live in Brett's Barn on their farm, named after their niece Sadie Brett who died, aged seven months, of liver and heart disease and Downs Syndrome.
They were named Margo and Todd after yuppie neighbors on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and share the barn with other pets.
But the Joeys won't join Luke, 41, when he performs Rod Laver Arena on March 20 with Dustin Lynch.
Meanwhile Luke performs Light It Up, written with Old Dominion member Brad Tursi, on his sixth chart topping album What Makes You Country that he is touring to promote.
It was shot in Nashville and stars Minnesota Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler - a country fan and guest of Luke at concerts.
What Makes You Country contains 15 songs - seven were co-written by Luke including the title track.
Light It Up is his 18th #1 single - his Tailgates & Tanlines and Crash My Party albums both generated five #1 singles.
CLICK HERE for a Luke Bryan feature in The Diary on June 3, 2012.
TRACE ADKINS STILL A SOLDIER
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Louisiana born singing actor Trace Adkins honours servicemen and women in Still A Soldier in Behind Bars.
The video features Iraq war combat engineer Bryan Gerwitz who defused landmines on the battlefield.
Adkins met Bryan when he called veterans on stage at his concert in Paducah , Kentucky .
Still A Soldier , written by Phil O'Donnell and Wade Kirby, is on Trace's 12th album Something's Goin On.
"We recorded this song well over a year ago, and my intent was always to release it as a tip of my hat to those who have served," Adkins revealed.
"For those who have crawled off the battlefield but still stand for the anthem, this is for you."
The video has no actors - instead Army SPC Gerwitz shows what happens when combat veterans return to civilian life.
“It was important to us to have veterans and their families in the video,” Adkins explained.
“These people, they follow orders. They're dedicated patriots. And that kind of commitment is something that I have the utmost respect for, and I think that my work with veterans' organizations over the years has been the most rewarding thing that I've had the chance to do.”
Adkins, 56 and father of five daughters, supports Wounded Warriors projects and performs USO concerts.
Trace has appeared in 24 movies and TV shows - his two most recent with Rhodes Scholar-octogenarian singer song-writer-actor Kris Kristofferson.
He and Kris, who appeared together in Traded in 2016, are reunited in western Hickok about the infamous life of Wild Bill Hickok.
Adkins plays saloon owner Phil Poe and Kristofferson is cast as George Knox - mayor of Abilene Kansas .
Oscar-nominated Australian actor Luke Hemsworth stars as lawman-gunslinger Hickok and Bruce Dern plays Doc Rivers O'Rourke.
Hickok enabled Kristofferson to reunite with Adkins whose character Phil Poe - an influential saloon owner - puts a bounty on Hickok's head.
It was released a year after Kristofferson suffered Lyme disease that decimated his memory and caused major health issues before his recovery.
Trace starred with Texan Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey in The Lincoln Lawyer and Wyatt Earp's Revenge, An American Carol, Mom's Night Out, Deepwater Horizon and Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story .
CLICK HERE for a Trace Adkins CD review in The Diary on July 6, 2009.
LITTLE FEATHER HILLBILLY LOVE SONG
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Kentucky coal-miner's grand-daughter and daughter Liz Sharpe fled to Australia to surf, sing and study classical piano and composition for film after singing and playing organ in her local church choir.
The second cousin of fellow coalminers' daughters Loretta Lynn and Patty Loveless headed home to Pikeville and formed bluegrass band Little Feather with husband Aaron Spraggs and Glen Campbell's son Shannon.
They debut on Nu Country with Hillbilly Love Song from their debut album released in September.
"I chased my dreams right back to my roots," Liz revealed.
"I always had this really weird yodel and break in my voice, and always tried to hide it. I wanted to do everything but country. Now, I get chills when I listen to a bluegrass band. But I also really enjoy mainstream country. Who doesn't like to dance?"
Hillbilly Love Song (Hey Y'all ) was inspired by Sharpe's desire to reconnect with her Kentucky spirit: set to a percussive banjo, about trading sidewalks for cowboy boots and not being afraid to kick back, Southern style.
Further info - http://sweeps.tweematic.com/littlefeather
LEE KERNAGHAN DRIVES ON
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Lee Kernaghan celebrated bush back roads, Deni Ute muster and way beyond in his video for Drive On from his 25th anniversary album tour last year.
Lee, 53, returns to Victoria on his 2018 national tour that began in Tamworth in January.
The 2008 Australian Of The Year has won 37 Golden Guitars, four ARIA Awards, three APRA awards and sold more than million albums in his career despite being ignored by mainstream radio.
The Corryong born OAM and singing spouse and pianist Robby are parents of two sons - eldest Jet born May 18, 2001 and Rock born November 27, 2002.
CLICK HERE for a Lee interview in the Diary on January 16, 2013.
CLICK HERE for another Lee interview in the Diary on February 20, 2013.
CLICK HERE for a previous interview in the Diary on November 10, 2009.
BRENDAN SMOOTHER FINDS BIG BLACK CAR
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Singing Lismore paramedic Brendan Smoother debuts a taunting tale in his Big Black Car video.
His treacle-beak character cases a big black car with dodgy number plates near a derelict house.
He ponders whether the car and house were used by a hit man in drug deals, abduction, murder or lovers trysts?
But the car took its revenge on the spectator in the song from his album launched in Tamworth in January.
Smoother teamed with Lola Brinton to pen it after she watched a black car in her street that often moved but no one saw anyone in it.
When the car suddenly had new number plates, Lola was inspired to write about it.
“It was interesting writing with Lola via the Internet, who is in her late 70s, and has been writing with many people, including Dale Duncan who she won a Tamworth Songwriters Association Award with in January,”
Brendan said of the eight verse song.
“Writing that way was really fun and exciting because you'd log in to see what the other person had done. We went back and forth for two weeks then I put the tune to it and made a song out of it.
“It's the first mystery song I've written. People are responding well to Big Black Car , saying how different it is to other songs being played on the radio.”
Producer Michael Carpenter also directed the video that stars actor Colin Defries who is also a motor mechanic and sourced the car.
Colin's character wakes at the end of the video and viewers are left wondering if the big black car was a dream, adding to the mystery.
"I wanted to have the character featured leaving me as the narrator," Brendan said.
“ Col loved the song and is a great character actor. Michael and I drove down to Jervis Bay and back in one day and filmed it with him and the car."
Brendan began guitar lessons at 17 with Matt Scullion when they were living in South Coast town Ulladulla.
He embraced his career as a paramedic and was posted to a rural town and resuscitated Gundagai Country Music Club on the country club circuit between Tumut and Cootamundra.
Brendan moved to Lismore in 1998 and recorded a two-track single with late producer Anthony Lycenko.
The single was a finalist at the TIARAS and won two North Coast Entertainment Industry Dolphin Awards.
Music took a backseat to family life for over a decade as Brendan and his wife welcomed children.
But in 2012 music resurfaced when long lonely car journeys had him taking down song ideas on his smartphone.
“I knew it was time to get back to music. I needed that creative outlet and the songs were flowing once again,” he said.
His first song recorded on return was poignant Paramedic Suicide that Brendan wrote spontaneously, prompted by high suicide rate and depression among emergency services personnel.
The video had over 26,000 views on YouTube.
Further info - http://bsmoother70.wixsite.com/brendansmoother
CHRIS JANSON RESCUES A DRUNK GIRL
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Missouri minstrel Chris Janson returns as a Good Samaritan with a plea for men to rescue women who fall prey to drinking after dark in Drunk Girl on his second album Everywhere, released in September.
“ Drunk Girl is just all about doing the right thing,” Janson, 31, revealed.
“Sometimes people forget. The bottom line is humans have to take care of humans no matter who you are or where you're at. Good information is good information whether it be for a guy or a girl. It doesn't matter the sex of the human. If you do the right thing, the right thing will always happen.”
Janson wrote the song with Scooter Carusoe and Tom Douglas long before the sexploitation storm erupted.
It tells of a man who encounters an inebriated woman on a night out in public with hair a mess and clothes undone.
By the end of the night the man ensures she is home safe - he takes her home, leaves her keys on her counter and his number by the phone.
Janson says the song was written from a parent's perspective.
He hopes if his children found themselves in a similar situation, others would take care of them in the same way.
“Ten years from now, I think the song will still have that timeless quality about it,” Janson explained.
“Now songs hit different people in different ways. If anybody thinks, ‘Hey, this is the perfect song for the times that we're in as far as the world or the status of America ,' then I take great pride in that. And I take it as a great compliment because if a song can help somebody in any way, that's why we do this.
“A lot of people have responded to the song in overwhelming kinds of ways, and it's relating to lot of people - men and women alike - no matter what walk of life they come from. And we weren't really setting out to do that on purpose it just kind of happened that way.”
Drunk Girl is one of 12 songs he wrote for Everybody including five from his Fix A Drink EP that followed debut album Buy Me A Boat .
CLICK HERE for a Janson CD feature in The Diary on November 16, 2015.
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support as we celebrate Nu Country TV's 34th series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.
We have Blake Shelton's 12th CD If I'm Honest from Karen Black and Tony Midolo at Warner Music.
We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing membership.
They include singing actor Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley , Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.