DAVE'S DIARY - 23 /4/2018 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 20 - SERIES 34
WILLIE NELSON CELEBRATES 85TH BIRTHDAY ON NU COUNTRY TV
Texan singing actor Willie Nelson celebrates his 85th birthday by headlining Nu Country TV on Saturday April 28 at 9 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44, with a video for the title track of his latest CD.
Indiana born Willie protégé Alex Williams appears live on the show repeated Monday at 3 pm and filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Gippsland born bluegrass duo The Davidson Brothers and Melbourne singer-songwriter Andrew Swift also return to the program featuring Northern Territory singing stockman Tom Curtain.
Kentuckian Carly Pearce performs live as a singer and table top dancer in a forest setting.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
WILLIE LAST MAN STANDING
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Shotgun Willie Nelson and his hot band exude droll humour in the video for the title track entrée of his latest album Last Man Standing released this week to celebrate his 85th birthday.
Last Man Standing - featured in Behind Bars - deals with mortality, aging and watching good friends die.
It's a tongue-in-cheek response to rumours surrounding Shotgun Willie's health.
Willie sings he doesn't want to be the last man standing after passing of pals diverse as Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard but adds a humorous caveat.
"I don't want to be the last man standing. Oh wait a minute, maybe I do," he sings.
Willie wrote all 11 songs on his new album with producer Buddy Cannon
Last Man Standing follows God's Problem Child - his 11th album on the Sony Legacy label.
God's Problem Child also examined weighty issues of mortality and loneliness with a humorous slant.
Willie heralds his 45th July 4 picnic in Austin with his Outlaw Music Festival Tour from May 25 in Raleigh , North Carolina , and ends in Woodland , Texas , on July 1.
Artists include Willie, Sturgill Simpson, Elvis Costello & The Imposters , Alison Krauss, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats , The Head and the Heart , Old Crow Medicine Show , Ryan Bingham, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians , Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, The Wild Feathers , JD McPherson, Delta Rae, and Particle Kid.
Willie's July 4 Picnic includes Margo Price, Asleep at the Wheel , Ray Wylie Hubbard, David Allan Coe, Johnny Bush, Billy Joe Shaver, Folk Uke , Raelyn Nelson Band and many Outlaw music festival acts.
CLICK HERE for a Willie Nelson CD feature in The Diary on May 29, 2017.
ALEX WILLIAMS LIVE BEHIND BARS
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Indiana outlaw Alex Williams joins his mentor Willie live in Behind Bars. Alex, 27, grew up listening to artists diverse as Shotgun Willie, Hank Williams Jr and the late Texans Waylon Jennings , Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt as a student. This week the Pendleton born singer performs Pay No Mind from his debut album Better Than Myself. He previously appeared on Nu Country by honouring Townes with his live version of Steve Earle penned Fort Worth Blues. Alex released Better Than Myself after a 2012 indie disc with Williams & Co - fellow students at Belmont University , Nashville. |
Williams thanks Hank Jr for getting Willie's harmonica player Mickey Raphael into the studio for his album.
Alex was opening for Hank in Nashville and Raphael was playing the show with Kentucky Coalminer's son Chris Stapleton.
“That was awesome,” Williams says of recording with Raphael who appears on the Better Than Myself title track, Few Short Miles (Bobby's Song) and Old Tattoo.
“He's such a nice guy. I want to write songs that make people feel like they don't have to do everything this world tells you to do because there's a lot of expectations. I might be a douche when I say that. But that's how I feel.”
Few Short Miles was inspired by a Texan fisherman who bravely fought cancer.
“I used to play gigs at a seaside trucker bar my cousin owned south of Houston in a little town in Sargent,” Williams explained.
“I was 17 or 18, and I met Bobby at one of the gigs I was playing and he was a really inspiring guy. We became really good friends in a short period of time while I was playing down there. I decided to write a song about it. He had cancer for a while and I didn't know that until the last few weeks before he passed.”
Old Tattoo is a tribute to his late grandfather and strength of his mother and grandmother after his death.
“I didn't know my grandpa that well,” Williams recalled.
“I just saw my mom and my grandma and how they dealt with that so easily. It's really hard to do for somebody that can just hide that and keep moving on. It was just one of those things I wish I knew him better than I did.”
Williams credits soulful peers for his success.
“It's good to be surrounded by people who are doing the same things you're doing,” Williams said.
“I love what Cody Jinks is doing. I dig what Margo Price is doing. Jamey Johnson, Jinks, Paul Cauthen - I would love to be into that world. I'll play with anybody.”
Further info - http://alexwilliamsofficial.com/
DAVIDSON BROTHERS TALLAROOOK
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The Davidson Brothers proved that life is not always crook at Tallarook in their humorous new video for the title track of eighth album All You Need Is Music .
Their subject lost a job but found love with a little help from red wine, a good woman and music.
This week they chose Tallarook and Deniliquin as locale of their video that features actors Veronika and Tristan McLindon who illustrate the song story.
The duo hails from Yinnar in the heart of Gippsland and won their fourth and fifth Golden Guitars in Tamworth in January.
They promote All You Need Is Music live in Ararat, Petersham, Bendigo , Bundalaguah and Meatstock at Sydney Showground in May and June.
CLICK HERE for our All You Need Is Music CD feature in the Diary on July 2, 2017.
ANDREW SWIFT ON A RUNAWAY TRAIN
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Mornington Peninsula singer-songwriter Andrew Swift is joined by Kiewa Valley raised country chanteuse Gretta Ziller and his band in a rollicking new video that opens the show.
They jammed on their train on a miniature railway at Narre Warren due south of Melbourne with Tatiana Kotsimbos cast as the female hunter.
Runaway Train is on Swift's second album Call Out For The Cavalry , released in March on Social Family Records.
“There are songs that describe situations where help could be used from bad decisions in Runaway Train , Reckless Desires and Blood Moon High to uncontrollable circumstances like King Of The Sky and even where help was sought out and ignored in The Devil & His Sin, ” Swift revealed of his album.
Swift took a break from his caravan park day job to film previous video Reckless Desires .
The singer has toured with Shane Nicholson, Catherine Britt, Amber Lawrence, Adam Eckersley and Lachlan Bryan.
Further info - https://www.andrewswift.com.au/
CARLY PEARCE TRIES TO HIDE THE WINE
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Kentuckian Carly Pearce performs in a tempting role as a table top dancer in a woodland wonderland in her latest video clip.
Carly enjoyed her favourite red Freakshow by a lake in Hide The Wine - one of eight songs she wrote on her debut album Every Little Thing .
But the singer, now 28, warned of the dangers of pouring alcohol on a naked flame.
Pearce, who played a prison gig at 14, employed her band as security.
Carly hails from Taylor Hill, Kentucky, fronted a bluegrass band at 11, played a prison gig at 14 and debuted at Dollywood at 16.
Hit-maker busbee produced the album.
“I think you'll hear a lot of the organic instrumentation,” Pearce said.
“There's a lot of Dobro, which is something I grew up loving - Jerry Douglas on Alison Krauss' music. You'll hear a lot of banjo, mandolin and acoustic guitar. There are certain things that I do with my voice that I think you can hear, like Sonya Isaacs and Alison and the way they sing. I wanted to emulate a lot of those bluegrass singers, and the way that they would reach notes.”
Carly and West Texan Josh Abbott previously appeared on Nu Country with Wasn't That Drunk from Josh's fourth album Front Row Seat.
Further info - https://www.carlypearce.com/home
TOM CURTAIN OUTBACK IN HIS BACKYARD
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Northern Territory singer-songwriter-stockman Tom Curtain shared two Golden guitars this year with fellow writer and Cronulla teacher Luke O'Shea.
Curtain hails from Kingaroy in Queensland and now runs outback tours from Katherine.
This week Tom is joined by fillies, a water buffalo, pig and other pals for rodeos and volleyball in his video as he extolls virtues of life way beyond the big smoke.
Living in The Bush is the third single on his third album Territory Time, released in November .
O'Shea headed north to join Tom Curtain in their Golden Guitar winning video for Never-Never Land - also on Territory Time .
Tom wrote Never-Never Land and Territory Time with the seven time Golden Guitarist during an O'Shea family outback trip.
“I came out to the NT in 2001 and worked at Mount Sanford Station in the stock-camp, sleeping in a swag every night,” Curtain revealed.
“Something out here inspired me to write songs, so I would write them on the back of a horse and use the hoofs as a drum beat”.
He now trains horses and dogs and runs Katherine Outback Experience - scene of the rhyme.
“Travellers and visitors get very frustrated because there could be something broken on their caravans and have to wait, but it's a bit of a mindset up here that we're living on Territory Time ,” Tom explained.
“The whole song is about when I first came up here and I was always rushing around. An old bloke gave me some advice to chill the hell out and just embrace it. There are still a lot of hard working people, but every now and then Territory Time creeps in.”
“Those two are the main Territory songs I've written. The rest are about living in the bush, serious songs about true stories, and a few comedy songs.
Curtain met partner Annabel McLarty three years ago.
“I am really passionate about all the songs I write. It is really rewarding” Curtain explained.
“Annabel has been a big influence on getting me back into music. I was hitchhiking with this big saddle bag and finally a guy picked me up and took me back to his farm. I was on my way to see mates at a camp-draft and this guy said he would give me a lift there if I helped him out for a bit loading his car. A while later Annabel arrived, and I just thought wow. It was her dad who had picked me up and that's how we met.”
Curtain is inspired by Annabel who moved north and runs their business Katherine Outback Experience.
“Long days mustering cattle, breaking-in horses and sleeping under the stars every night inspired me to write songs and I couldn't play guitar when I first came here, but started playing around campfires,” Tom added.
“There is something out here that got into my system and Never-Never Land is about that different way of life, the extreme isolation and the people.
“When they listen to it, I'm just trying to describe the scenery, wildlife, hardworking ringers on the cattle stations because the pastoral industry is a big sector up here. There are a lot of times where their backs are against the wall and they push on through, but you've just gotta keep trying. I also want to get more people up here to experience the Top End.”
Further info - https://www.katherineoutbackexperience.com.au/music/
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.
You can win Kip Moore's third album Slowheart , thanks to EMI promotions chief Dave Parker, and 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 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.