DAVE'S DIARY - 18/2/2019 - PREVIEW OF EPUSODE 1 - SERIES 39
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Veteran western swing band Asleep At The Wheel headline Nu Country TV on Saturday February 23 at 9 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44 with a video at Willie Nelson's movie town Luck.
Willie's son Lukas Nelson and the late Waylon Jennings son Shooter also perform in Behind Bars on the show repeated Monday 8.30 pm and Wednesday 10.30 pm.
Expat Californian singer-songwriter Kevin Welch and Louisiana born singing actor Hunter Hayes return to the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Tennessean troubadour Tucker Beathard makes his debut with a grand paternal homage.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL IN LUCK
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Western swing king Ray Benson and Asleep At The Wheel visit fellow Texan legend Willie Nelson's movie town Luck with its own chapel, saloon and Opry house.
Fiddler/vocalist Katie Shore goes on a musical mission with help from Willie's Reserve - his line of marijuana - to spread love in Luck.
But hard luck strikes Shore when she finds the dispensary closed.
But Benson comes to the rescue with Willie's herb superb and she wins a poker game with a jack of hearts as they perform a humorous cinematic collage for latest single Jack I'm Mellow from their 34th album New Routes.
The wheel started rolling in 1970 in Paw Paw, West Virginia , and have recorded several Bob Wills tribute albums and live discs including one with Willie, now 85.
They won nine Grammys after moving from San Francisco to Austin , Texas , more than 30 years ago.
Ray, 67, formed the Wheel with dual Grammy winning latter day Fremantle pedal steel guitarist Lucky Oceans and has released three solo albums.
Lucky, now 67, won a 1978 Grammy for Best Country Instrumental for the Wheel's remake of Count Basie's One O'clock Jump.
In 1977 Oceans, born Reuben Gosfield, met Christine Haddow - a young Australian photographer on The Boston Globe.
They wed in 1979 and moved to Fremantle where Oceans released solo albums Lucky Steels the Wheel in 1982 and Secret Steel in 2005 and discs with his Australian bands including Dude Ranch and the Zydecats.
Lucky has also hosted ABC-TV-radio show The Planet.
In 1993 he won a second Grammy with Asleep at the Wheel for their collaboration with Lyle Lovett on Blues for Dixie from 1993 album A Tribute to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys .
CLICK HERE for a Willie & The Wheel feature in the Diary on July 4, 2009.
LUKAS NELSON TRIES TO FORGET GEORGIA
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Lukas Nelson and his band Promise Of The Real return on the eve of their latest Australian tour in April.
Nelson's band also appear as Bradley Cooper's band in box office smash movie A Star Is Born and the big selling soundtrack.
Lukas also wrote and produced six songs with Cooper and Lady Gaga for the movie.
His dad Willie once had Georgia on his mind - this week Lukas performs Forget About Georgia from his latest EP that follows 10 albums.
He unearthed an old Underwood type-writer and twin guitars by his bed.
Lukas, now 30 and brother Micah, have toured and recorded albums and videos with their dad since their teens.
They shared music and picturesque bliss with horses at Luck in the video for Just Outside Of Austin from Lukas' self-titled debut album Promise Of The Real , released in August 2017.
Lukas also recorded and toured with expat Canadian Neil Young.
Willie, Micah, Lukas & The Promise Of The Real join Young in new movie Paradox directed by Neil's actress partner Daryl Hanna.
Further info - http://lukasnelson.com/
SHOOTER JENNINGS BEHIND BARS
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Fellow Texan Shooter Jennings returns live as he performs D.R.U.N.K in Behind Bars at the Paste Studio in New York City .
D.R.U.N.K . is on his 10th solo album Shooter, promoted by H ee Haw haystack cornball cameos in previous video Fast Horses And Good Hideouts.
Shooter is son of Texan outlaw Waylon Jennings, who died at 64 on February 13, 2002, and singer Jessi Colter.
Jennings has also starred in movies in his 25-year career.
He courted fellow actor Drea De Matteo of Joey and Sopranos fame when he was among headliners of Willie Nelson's July 3 and July 4 Picnics at Carl's Corner and Fort Worth in 2006.
The couple met in 2003 and have two children - daughter Alabama Gypsy Rose Jennings born in November, 2007 and son Waylon Albert "Blackjack" Jennings born in April 2011.
Jennings and de Matteo split before Shooter married another actor Misty Brooke Swain on June 4, 2013 in Joshua Tree, California.
Misty starred in the Spook TV and Flush movies .
Shooter's acting roles included Sons Of Anarchy, CSI crime series, Johnny Cash movie Walk The Line, The Other Life & Robot Chicken .
He also released four live albums and others with his mum Jessi and bands including Stargunn who were featured on I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings and the soundtrack to the Vince Vaughn film Made.
They also recorded White Lines N Black Ties for the film The Crew starring Burt Reynolds.
CLICK HERE for our Shooter Jennings interview in The Diary on April 28, 2012.
KEVIN WELCH LIVE DUST DEVILS
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Expat Californian Kevin Welch returns with a live version of the title track of his 12th album Dust Devils released in October.
Those dust devils were caused by mini-tornadoes when he lived in Oklahoma before he moved to Wimberley , Texas - latter day hometown of Oklahoma born veteran outlaw Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Kevin, 63, now lives in Nowra on the NSW south coast with his Australian wife
Welch enjoyed many tours here with his Dead Reckoning Records partner Kieran Kane.
During his 12th Australian tour he also wrote and recorded his song Marysville with Kane and Fats Kaplin for Black Saturday bush fire victims on the Vinnies compilation album After The Fires.
Welch was a headliner at the second Australian Americana Awards at Thornbury Theatre.
Kevin recently released Dust Devil after discs with Kane and Kaplin and DVD with Kevin Bennett & The Flood
He returned to Nashville and recorded the album with top musicians including his son Dustin and daughter Savannah who recorded with The Trishas .
CLICK HERE for a Kevin Dust Devils CD feature in The Diary on November 19, 2018.
HUNTER HAYES FINDS GOD
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Louisiana born singing actor Hunter Hayes with a song about self-doubt on the eve of his second Australian tour in April.
Hunter, 28, wrote Dear God with Andy Grammer and Dave Spencer for his 10th album and starred in movies as a child before choosing music.
He appeared in Robert Duvall movie The Apostle with Billy Joe Shaver, Billy Bob Thornton and June Carter Cash.
The four-time Grammy nominee was just six when Duvall gave him his first guitar and hired him for The Apostle.
At seven he performed for President Bill Clinton at a White House lawn party and was a child star in movies Figure It Out, My Dog Skip and Charley's War.
The multi-instrumentalist, proficient on 30 instruments, appeared in 2016 movie Bella and the Bulldogs.
Hayes has released three albums, five indie discs, live EP and played guitar on Listen To The Music with Oklahoma star Blake Shelton on the Doobie Brothers tribute disc Southbound .
Hunter recently appeared on Nu Country with Irish singer Catherine McGrath.
His second Australian tour follows his debut at Prince Of Wales Hotel in St Kilda in April, 2015.
Further info - http://www.hunterhayes.com/
TUCKER BEATHARD HALL OF FAME
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Tennessean Tucker Beathard pays homage to his grandfather on Real World Hall Of Fame from his debut CD Dear Someone .
It was inspired by grandpa Bobby, now 82, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August after 33 years as a NFL player and manager.
Bobby's teams competed in the Super Bowl seven times and won four times over his four-decade long career.
Tucker says the song focuses on how his grandfather cemented his place in his family's Real World Hall of Fame long ago just by being the person that he is.
The video takes viewers on a tour of Beathard and his grandfather's lives, flashing through scenes of his career in football, intimate family moments and inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Tucker, just 23, hails from a long line of creative souls.
His dad Casey is a prolific hit writer and his brother CJ is quarter back for the San Francisco 49ers
Tucker broke into country in 2016 with Top 4 single Rock On and EP Fight Like Hell.
Further info - http://tuckerbeathard.com/
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support as we celebrate Nu Country TV's 39th 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.