DAVE'S DIARY - 27/1/2020 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 10 - SERIES 42
BLAKE SHELTON & GARTH BROOKS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Oklahoma born stars Blake Shelton and Garth Brooks headline Nu Country TV on Saturday February 1 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
Brazilian rodeo and radio rider Antonio Moraes debuts on the show, hosted by Mid Pacific Bob Olson, and repeated Tuesday at 5 am.
Queensland quintet Saltbush Six and Kentucky singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon appear Behind Bars in the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Ferny Creek singer-songwriter Brendan McMahon and Northcote peer Michael Meeking showcase their new videos.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
BLAKE AND GARTH IN A DIVE BAR
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Blake Shelton and Garth Brooks give new meaning to performing live in a dive bar in their Nu Country return.
They dived, danced and sang at Blake's Nashville honky-tonk Ole Red in full scuba gear.
Garth celebrated his 58th birthday this week.
Dive Bar is on Garth's 22nd album Fun and inspired a seven date dive bar tour.
In 2000 after Brooks filed for divorce from estranged wife Sandy he dated Trisha Yearwood in her four-year hiatus from music.
On May 25, 2005, Garth proposed to Trisha in front of 7,000 fans in Bakersfield , California , and on December 10, 2005, they were married in a private ceremony at the couple's home in Owasso , Oklahoma .
Shelton and not so little mate Trace Adkins joined forces in their previous Nu Country video for Hell Right on Blake's 14th album Fully Loaded: God's Country, released December 13 for Christmas.
Blake, 43, courted Gwen Stefani, 50, after divorcing canine rescue queen and Texan chart topper Miranda Lambert, 34, in July 2015 after a four year marriage.
Blake and Gwen released a video for their new duet Nobody But You .
CLICK HERE for a Blake feature in The Diary on June 11, 2018.
ANTONIO MORAES - FROM RODEO TO RADIO AND TV
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Antonio Moraes debuts with a song video that depict his journey from rodeo to radio. Antonio is the son of three time World Champ Bull Rider Adriano who took him to Texas when he was just 18 months old. Moraes spent his youth between Tyler, Texas, and homeland Brazil. At 10 he returned to Brazil but chased his music dreams back to Texas solo at 16. |
Let It Ride relates his father's encouragement to pursue his dream to be a singer.
“Drawing from my experience where my dad is my hero, the song relates the courage to ride a bull and the courage I need to go after my singing career,” Antonio revealed.
“Faced with this life story, I want to show it in a music video, because it is a story that will touch the lives of many people.
Moraes wrote it with Monty Powell and Eric Silver and released his self-titled EP that celebrates his cowboy life through his music and stories.
Antonio worked with Grammy winner producer Ben Fowler and ACM pianist of the year Gordon Mote.
He wrote all six songs with Nashville tunesmiths including Grammy winner Marcus Hummon and new writers he met in town.
It includes I'll Never Leave recorded with Latin Grammy winner Paula Fernandes who recorded hits with artists diverse as Taylor Swift and Shania Twain.
Further info - https://antoniomoraesmusic.com/
SALTBUSH SIX BEYOND THE RANCH
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Queensland quintet Saltbush Six shares name with the pioneer Melbourne outlaw band that featured their expat Australian producer and pedal steel guitarist Mark Moffatt.
They return with their That's Our Thang video from debut album Beyond The Ranch.
Drummer Peter Clarke was in The Ranch and predecessor The Ayers Rockettes with expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban.
Peter and Keith invaded Nu Country FM's studio on Beer Can Hill in Northcote in 2000 when they climbed a balcony from the Northcote Leader car park for an interview.
Saltbush Six arose from their ashes after Urban joined Mark in expat Australasian Barry Coburn's publishing and studio stable in Nashville.
This band, fronted by expat Aussie Darcy Crawford with bassist Marlon Holden and guitarists Alan Cooper and Brad Hooper, recorded in Nashville.
They set their pace with Live From Our House (Saturday Night) - one of six tunes co-written by Patrick Matthews.
It segues into vibrant Chris Janson tune You Don't Know Me Lonely and That's Our Thang - both penned with expat Aussie Phil Barton.
Funereal Some Dust Don't Settle Down and Come On In are soulful siblings of jaunty I Know A Little Something About That.
This joyous gem peaks with optimism fuelled The Windshield and Matches , weather metaphor ignited Lightning In A Bottle and rollicking finale Swerve that shares theme but not writers with Florida Georgia Line's hit.
More info - https://www.facebook.com/SaltbushSix/
KENTUCKY WOMAN KELSEY WALDON
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Kentuckian Kelsey Waldon sings and worships in a church where dogs pray and parishioners dance with their cigarettes well lit.
The Baptist belle hails from a tiny town that's hard to miss - Monkey's Eyebrow is in Loretta Lynn coal mine country.
Kelsey grew up working on farms and tobacco fields of Western Kentucky.
She puts her life into her songs including a hard work and dogged perseverance ethos in Anyhow.
As someone born poor in a forgotten region, and as a woman and a traditionalist in the country genre where these two things act like strikes against success, she sings about insisting on doing it your own way and sweating through adversity from a place of experience.”
Anyhow is on her third album White Noise/White Lines she produced with Dan Knobler that follows self-released EPS and debut 2014 album The Goldmine and 2016 disc I've Got A Way on 30 Tigers.
She sings about those roots in Kentucky, 1988.
“This is my DNA, no matter how far I get away,” Kelsey explained.
“There's just some things that will never change Kentucky , 1988.”
Anyhow, Kentucky 1988, Black Patch, Lived And Let Go, Run Away and Sunday's Children are among highlights of her album on April tourist and former Chicago mailman John Prine's Oh Boy record label.
Further info - https://www.kelseywaldon.com/
MICHAEL MEEKING AQUATIC JOURNEY
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Northcote singer-songwriter Michael Meeking grew up in Upper Beaconsfield before moving to London for six years in his late twenties.
This week he takes viewers on a magical mystery tour of favourite locales in his Nu Country debut.
Meeking filmed and directed his provocative and scenic musical journey, riddled with riveting reflections, at locales diverse as Mansfield, Lake Eildon , Sorrento back beach, Blairgowrie and others.
Michael, who also lived in North Fitzroy , directed and edited Where You Going To Go with an aquatic feel midst our drought and fire phoenixes
It's on his fourth album November 72 that came out in August.
He ploughs seventies nostalgia from exploratory entrée Great Unknown , driven by freedom desires despite lost highway hurdles.
Meeking wrote all tunes on his Chet Atkins issue Gretsch guitar on a road trip inspired disc produced by drummer Roger Bergodaz.
His plaintive plea to absent lover in Nicolena segues into exorcism of mountainous materialism in Take Em Out.
Meeking digs deep into a redemptive romantic scenario in Little Lie and ignites passion for a femme fatale in Take A Walk
He also exercises ominous but positive passion in the shadows of Dark Clouds and uplifts soulful sacrificial sibling Blood Brother.
It's no surprise the desperado dreams of the distance and high lonesome fuelled Far From Anywhere are reprised by optimistic finale Lonesome (Good Times Will Come Again.)
Further info - https://www.michaelmeeking.com/
BRENDAN MCMAHON ECHIDNA TRIBUTE
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Ferny Creek singer Brendan McMahon returns with his song Lost My Way about an echidna he met in Rowville.
“ Lost My Way is about an echidna who walked into our backyard where we back on to a reserve,” McMahon, 56, told Nu Country TV on the eve of summer gigs to promote his music.
“It happened twice. It was very hard to free him. I went to pick him up. I had a couple of pairs of gloves on but he just burrowed down into the ground. I stood there for a while. When echidnas are spooked they stay dead-still and burrow into the ground until they get moving again after about five minutes. So I grabbed my note-book and started writing down the story. I waited for him to move and stop clawing into my wife's rose bush so I could pick him up and take him back into the bush.”
Brendan performed live with his band in front of a quaint backdrop.
It's on his fourth album In The Moment.
CLICK HERE for a Brendan interview in The Diary on December 9.
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support in Nu Country TV's 42nd series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.
You can join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales.
Also Kip Moore's third album Slowheart, thanks to EMI promotions chief Dave Parker.
We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your 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 details.