DAVE'S DIARY - 5/3/ 2018 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 13 - SERIES 34
DARIUS RUCKER HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
South Carolina born singer-songwriter Darius Rucker headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday March 10 at 9 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44, on the eve of his Australian tour.
Georgian star Luke Bryan, also touring here in March, returns to the show hosted by Mid Pacific Bob Olson and repeated Monday at 3 pm.
Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde visited her home town Little Rock to film her new video American Scandal in Behind Bars on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Mississippi minstrel William Michael Morgan also returns to the show featuring Hunter Valley singer-songwriter Tori Forsyth and Sydney singer Matt Cornell.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
RUCKER RESCUES GUITAR FROM SURF
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Triple Grammy winner Darius Rucker loses his guitar in the surf in pursuit of love in his video for If I Told You from his fifth solo album When Was The Last Time.
Rucker, 51, and North Carolina nouveau outlaw Luke Combs will perform beneath Greco-Roman statues, minaret and cupola on Monday March 19 at The Flinders Street Forum in our CBD.
They join Georgian Luke Bryan, Kelsea Ballerini, Dustin Lynch, Randy Houser, Old Dominion , Dan + Shay, Dean Brody, Brett Young, Brothers Osborne , Gord Bamford and major local artists at the sold-out CMC Rocks Queensland festival in Ipswich from March 15-18.
The 11th CMC festival and Rucker-Combs tour are among memorable projects organised by our late benefactor Rob Potts and fellow Tasmanian born Michael Chugg.
Rucker recently appeared on Nu Country with For The First Time, Top Of The Tower and also performed I Got Nothing from third album Charleston , South Carolina , 1966 - named after his hometown.
But his version of Wagon Wheel from fourth album True Believers sold two million copies and broke him here.
Wagon Wheel was a Bob Dylan song that also charted for Old Crow Medicine Show after lead singer Ketch Secor revamped the lyrics.
Darius surpassed success of former band Hootie & The Blowfish that sold more than 25 million albums in their 22-year career that started at college in South Carolina in 1986.
In 2017 he launched a golf show on Sirius XM's PGA Tour Radio and acted in Hawaii Five-O and CMT show Sun Records .
When Rucker scored with Don't Think I Don't Think About It he was the first Afro-American to top country charts since Charley Pride's 29th smash Night Games in 1983.
The late Ray Charles followed with his #1 hit duet with Willie Nelson on Seven Spanish Angels in March 1985.
CLICK HERE for a Darius Rucker CD feature in The Diary on August 6, 2013.
LUKE BRYAN SALUTES FARMERS
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Georgian Luke Bryan eulogised his red dirt farming folks in Here's To The Farmer from fifth album Kill The Lights on the eve of his headlining role at CMC Rocks Queensland in Ipswich .
Luke now 41, also plays Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday March 20 with Tennessean Dustin Lynch.
The singer caused a storm when he gave his wife Caroline two kangaroo joeys for Christmas.
Hopefully they won't escape into farmer's crops - they have their own digs at his home near Nashville.
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.
Last week we featured his video for Light It Up , written with Old Dominion member Brad Tursi, on his sixth chart topping album What Makes You Country, produced by Jeff Stevens and Jody Stevens.
It was shot in Nashville and stars Minnesota Timberwolves star Jimmy Butler - a country fan and guest of Luke at concerts.
Bryan is touring here to promote What Makes You Country - it contains 15 songs including seven co-written by Luke including the title track.
Light It Up was 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.
ASHLEY MCBRYDE AMERICAN SCANDAL
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Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde recruited her three young god-sons for the video of American Scandal on her fifth album Girl Going Nowhere.
Outlaw Ashley, now 33, filmed it at Reno 's - the Little Rock bar she played for 11 years before her breakthrough.
Ashley shared a new tattoo with gal pals while her god-sons wrestle, play and give each other a fake tattoo.
"I get recognized more for my tattoos than my face," Ashley joked.
The video does not address the lyrical message of experiencing a romance so torrid that it captures the passion of the alleged affair between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe.
“This is the first of two videos,” explains McBryde.
“The viewer gets to imprint their own love story onto it. For us to literally take it and show what it might mean would almost be neutering.
“We won't spell it out for anyone. Your love is your love. It doesn't matter whether you're 18 or 68, there can still be someone that makes you feel that way.”
The song, written with Randall Clay and Terri Jo Box, came about while day drinking on a patio.
“I call it having a meeting,” McBryde quipped.
“I was complaining about love songs and how I haven't heard one in a long time that I believed. All I wanted to say is something that I would believe in if you said it to me and if you said it in a way that's not so feathery and crap. I would want it to feel almost scandalous. I would want it to be like Kennedy and Monroe.”
She wrote the title track the day after Texan mentor Guy Clark died at 74 on May 17, 2016.
McBryde was raised on a Mammoth Springs farm in a musical family of eight and debuted Behind Bars in aptly titled A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega.
Ashley wrote it with Nicolette Hayford and Jesse Rice about a Georgian honky tonk in a town of 5,200 people.
She released her debut EP in 2006 before four indie albums led to her latest produced by Jay Joyce.
“This CD is a collection of loose ends and lullabies,” Ashley explained.
“Each tune is a tiny little confession. Call it an occupational hazard. My dirty laundry is sometimes your entertainment and sometimes yours is mine.”
Further info - http://www.ashleymcbryde.com/
WILLIAM MICHAEL MORGAN VINYL
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Mississippi minstrel William Michael Morgan believes vinyl is final so he keeps it turning and burning in the digital age in his video for Vinyl.
It's the title track of the baritone traditionalist's second album that features previous hits I Met A Girl and Missing.
He penned Vinyl with Carson Chamberlain, Ashley Gorley and Wade Kirby.
Morgan, 24, left home in Vicksburg , Mississippi , at 18 to follow his dreams to Nashville where he debuted with his throwback to the traditional sound missing from country radio on the Grand Ole Opry.
When Morgan was 12, inspired by a Dierks Bentley concert, he formed a band with local pickers - most old enough to be his father - that performed in Vicksburg and nearby on weekends.
In 2006 Morgan and his band released indie album, Always Country , and worked part-time to help finance musical projects.
He was 16 when he visited Nashville for song-writing sessions and at 19 landed publishing and recording deals with Warner/Chappell Music .
Further info - http://www.williammichaelmorgan.com/
TORI FORSYTH BEACHED
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Hunter Valley singer-songwriter Tori Forsyth masters bicycles, balloons, a beach and a maze on the fringes of Newcastle in her video for In The Morning on her debut album Dawn Of The Dark.
“ In The Morning was a last minute addition to the record so it's funny that it's risen to the top as a second single,” Tori, 22, revealed.
“The song has a few different meanings to me, it was a written in a darker time of my life and there's definitely that theme to the song, but I think it's also a song that basically rides on gender equality, the idea that a woman can do everything a man can.”
Tori grew up on a 64 acre farm near tiny hometown Congewai and plays the South By South West festival in Austin this month.
Her songs are blunt about some of her early experiences in Nashville and Tamworth .
“It was like a war zone, it was like a battlefield,” Tori explained.
“I felt like I was in high school again.”
Further info - http://www.toriforsythmusic.com/
MATT CORNELL SOUNDTRACK
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Sydney singer-songwriter Matt Cornell acts out a family tradition as he celebrates the midnight hour in his latest video.
He followed his flame to a bar and river bank in It's Only Midnight from fourth solo album My Soundtrack.
“ It's Only Midnight is one of the more light and fun songs on the album, as there's some pretty personal songs on this record,” Cornell revealed.
“It's a great road trip album. Every track has a message with an infectious feel-good nature permeating the sound and stories.”
Matt described the single as catchy and feel good with capacity to transport you to that time in your life where you may have met your first love.
The title track, written with Drew McAlister and Allan Caswell tells the story of songs, bands and artists that Matt grew up on.
There's even mention of a song by Richard Marx who Cornell supported on his 2016 national tour.
“I grew up on 80s music, as well as lots of albums from my parents' vinyl collection,” Cornell explained.
“They would go on to define me as a musician and as an artist. When I hear a particular song, I can remember a particular time of my life.”
Matt - son of former Delltones star Wayne Cornell - also records and tours with Adam Brand's band Outlaws.
We also featured Cornell's video for In This Town, written with Allan Caswell.
Cornell drew on his experiences of travelling through country towns for the song.
It tells the story of two characters - a retired old boxer and a young widowed mother who lost her husband in Iraq .
Further info - http://www.mattcornellmusic.com.au/
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.