DAVE'S DIARY - 22/1/2018 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 7 - SERIES 34
ERIC CHURCH HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
North Carolina nouveau outlaw singer-songwriter Eric Church headlines Nu Country TV on Channel 31/ Digital 44 this Saturday - January 27 - at 9 pm.
Prolific Grammy winning bluegrass gospel singer Dan Tyminski performs in Behind Bars in the show repeated Monday at 3 pm.
Fellow Grammy winner banjo ace and comedian Steve Martin also returns to the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Expat Gippsland singer-songwriter Gord Bamford revisits Nu Country on the eve of his second tour of his homeland in March.
Tennessean James Carothers debuts with a live tribute to the late Hank Williams and Ashleigh Dallas performs at Tamworth City Dance Academy .
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
ROUND HERE BUZZ FOR CHURCH
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Eric Church returns with Round Here Buzz from his sixth album Mr Misunderstood. The video revisits his Mr. Misunderstood character and follows a love story that starts in classic fashion with love notes, mix-tapes and trips behind high school bleachers. All performances on his 61-date Holdin' My Own tour were recorded. Church will release 61 Days in Church - a collection of live recordings from the 2017 tour - in April. They included his Route 91 Harvest Festival concert in Las Vegas on October 1 when 58 fans were killed and 489 wounded by a crazed gunman. Sonny Melton, a registered nurse from Big Sandy, Tennessee, died shielding his wife Heather Melton from the gunfire. Church paid tribute to Sonny, 29, when he debuted his single Why Not Me on October 4 on the Grand Ole Opry. |
The couple travelled from Tennessee to Las Vegas to see Church's concert on September 29 and also had tickets to Church's Opry performance.
Church fought back tears onstage and revealed he didn't want to perform on the Wednesday night Opry.
I didn't want to play guitar,” Church said.
“And I didn't want to walk on the stage.”
He then pointed to Section E, Row F - two seats left without occupants.
“That's their seats,” Church revealed.
“And I'll tell you something, the reason I'm here tonight is because of Heather, Sonny who died and every person that was there.
“I saw that crowd, and I saw them with their hands in the air, and I saw them with boots in the air and what I saw that moment in time was frozen there's no amount of bullets that can take that away.”
Church described seeing smiling faces of fans as he made his way through space between the barricades that split the crowd during his song Springsteen .
“I was so moved mainly because I looked at them and I went, ‘this is my crowd,'” said Eric who calls his band the Church Choir .
“I've seen this crowd all year. They're mine.
“Something broke in me on Sunday night when that happened and the only way I've been able to fix anything is with music.”
Eric, 40, is a prolific chart topper - his sixth #1 hit was Raise Em Up with expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban.
CLICK HERE for a Church feature in The Diary on March 1, 2014.
CLICK HERE to win a Church CD on our membership page.
DAN TYMINSKI VISITS DIFFERENT CHURCHES
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Dan Tyminski visited swamp churches in his haunting video for Southern Gothic - title track of his fourth solo album.
Dan's clip features chapels on every corner and an arsenal of bibles, guns and serpents.
The 14 time Grammy winner, now 50, is also in Alison Krauss's Union Station Band and fronted Soggy Bottom Boys on Man Of Constant Sorrow in the O Brother Where Art Thou movie.
Tyminski hadn't planned Southern Gothic as a solo album.
“I ended up getting to write with the young man Jesse Frasure - he's on fire right now,” Tyminski revealed.
“When we first started to sit down to write, he had a take on where the music should go that was so fun and so daring. He wasn't afraid to go anywhere - way outside of the box that I had found myself trying to write in. And we hit it off and started writing more music. Before we knew it, we had acquired a few songs that we really liked, Southern Gothic being one of them.”
The album's bluesy title track lyrics include “Baptised in Southern Gothic , in the garden of good and evil. We've got a church on every corner/ so why does Heaven feel so far away.”
The song became the cornerstone and inspiration for the 13 track album.
“I remember driving home, being very jealous, wishing I could do that song myself, but understanding I would have to pitch it to someone else,” Tyminski recalled.
“To me, it was an expression. The whole record is the truths in my life.
“That song, and a lot of the record, is holding the mirror up to society for me. It's taking a look at the world, not judging, not saying you have to do this, or shouldn't do this, or might be better, just an observation of some things that go on in this world.
“And throughout the record, there are a lot of those truths for me, and Southern Gothic , I thought, was the most fantastic, visual piece of work, that it just made sense to do a record.”
It also features Perfect Poison, Devil in Downtown, Haunted Heart and Bloodline.
His solo albums include Carry Me Across the Mountain (2000) on Doobie Shea Records and Wheels (2008), on Rounder Records.
Dan was also vocalist on Avicii's international hit Hey Brother from the album True.
Tyminski was born in Rutland , Vermont , and at high school with brother Stan formed Green Mountain Bluegrass in which he played banjo for five years.
He also played mandolin and sang in the Lonesome River Band for five years from when he was 21.
Further info - http://dantyminski.com/
STEVE MARTIN ON THE WATER
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Five time Grammy winner Steve Martin took a seat with the Steep Canyon Rangers when they performed On The Waster live at San Diego State University
Steve wrote 14 songs including On The Water with the band for their Long Awaited Album - his 12th and second with his fellow Grammy winners
Waco born Steve, now 72, found his love for banjo at 17 and originally used it in his standup comedy routine.
In 2010 Martin released The Crow: New Songs for the 5-Strong Banjo and in 2011 followed with Rare Bird Alert with Steep Canyon Rangers .
Steve also collaborated with Edie Brickell on their Grammy winning duet disc Love Has Come For You that combined his five-string banjo work with her vocals.
Their second collaboration So Familiar won widespread acclaim and inspired their Broadway musical Bright Star .
He won a country Grammy in 2002 for his collaboration with Earl Scruggs on Foggy Mountain Breakdown and two other Grammys in 1970s for his comedy recordings.
Further info - www.stevemartin.com
JAMES CAROTHERS HANK HOMAGE
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Tennessean James Carothers debuts with Back To Hank - his live homage to Hank Williams - at the late George Jones birthday bash in Nashville. Carothers reaches back to an era when twin fiddles and pedal steel guitar reigned. It was when Hank Williams died 65 years ago, aged 29, in the back of a Cadillac en route to a gig on New Years' Day in 1953. James honoured Hank and other mentors at the George Jones bar on 2nd Avenue in Nashville. He wrote all songs including Back To Hank on debut 2017 album Relapse between gigs at the roof top bar opened by George's widow Nancy in 2015. |
James was born in Selmer , Tennessee , and grew up leading singing every Sunday in the Church of Christ.
Carothers father recorded two albums in Nashville before moving to New Mexico during James teenage years.
James married, started a family and paid the bills as a technician at the Los Alamos National Laboratory - same place the atomic bomb was created.
Ironically, he recorded Relapse at the Nashville Bomb Shelter Studio three years after his eight track debut EP Honky Tonk Land.
"My whole life, I've always loved those legendary artists,” James revealed.
"I've really learned how to sound like them, too. My Willie Nelson sounds like Willie Nelson. My Johnny Cash sounds like Johnny Cash. When I do the Highwaymen , it sounds like all of them. People really do want to hear all these old classic songs and I guess singing them is kind of what has made things happen for me here in Nashville. I see a lot of folks doing double takes when they first walk by - the impressions definitely get their attention. Then they stop and hang out with us for a show or two, buy a CD, and a lot of them keep coming back. It may sound cliché, but Jerry Lee and I really have made a bunch of lifelong friends just "sittin' on a bar stool actin' like a darn fool."
Further info - https://jamescarothers.com/
GORD BAMFORD LIVING ON SUMMERTIME
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Expatriate Gippsland singer-songwriter Gord Bamford returns with seasonal song Living on Summertime - title track of his ninth album.
He promotes it on March 24 with Kevin Bennett at famed Village Green hotel in Waverley after playing CMC Rocks Queensland in Ipswich.
Gord, now 41, left his Traralgon home for Alberta , Canada , with sister Twila and singer mum Marilyn when he was 5, after his parents separated.
“I have been looking forward to getting back to Oz since I left,” Gord revealed.
“The industry and the country music fans have treated me so well and I believe it's a hidden gem of a market for country music. It is a great atmosphere and I just feel blessed to be able to come to the place I was born, play my music and reconnect with my father and family.”
It was more than two decades before he returned and reunited with Queensland-based father, Pastor Jock Bamford.
Their rocky relationship, instigated by his father's alcoholism, created an 18 year estrangement.
Pastor Jock is now sober and highly respected for his Loaves and Fishes Foundation in Brisbane.
Four years ago Gord and his dad reached out to each other and their relationship blossomed.
“I am bringing my own band and crew with me for the first time for these shows” Gord added.
“We have all played together for many years and the Aussie fans will get to see our full show. I am excited to be able to bring them all over with me for these dates.”
Further info - www.gordbamford.com
ASHLEIGH DALLAS DANCES IN TAMWORTH
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Ashleigh Dallas returns with a song she wrote after dance class in hometown Tamworth .
“I wrote this song early 2016 after attending Dare 2 Dance class in Tamworth, where it doesn't matter how great or how average you are on the dance floor, it's all about getting lost in the song, the lyrics, the steps and groove and feel the beat,” Ashleigh, now 23, revealed.
“I had so much fun working with 2Luke Films who directed the clip at the stunning studio Tamworth City Dance Academy - also a big shout-out for the amazing hair and makeup by Wavelengths.”
Feel The Beat is second single from her fourth album Lighthouse.
Her dad Brett, brother Lindsay of Chasing Bailey and grandfather Rex, now 78, play on her album.
Ashleigh began playing fiddle at 6, mandolin at 10 and wrote her first song at 12.
The dual Golden Guitarist then joined Kasey Chambers' band at 15.
Kasey produced her debut album Dancing With A Ghost at brother Nash Chambers Foggy Mountain studio in the Hunter Valley .
She co-wrote Kasey's song Wheel Barrow - first single from her seventh solo album Bittersweet - and played mandolin and banjo on the disc.
Ashleigh also paid tribute to late Uncle Jeff in Taken.
She penned it with her dad and cut a duet with Bill Chambers on their co-write Riding The Rails.
CLICK HERE for an Ashleigh CD feature in The Diary on December 7, 2013.
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 more.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.