DAVE'S DIARY - 30/12/2019 -PREVIEW OF EPISODE 6 - SERIES 42
OLD DOMINION AND MAREN MORRIS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Virginian quintet Old Dominion and Texan singer Maren Morris headline Nu Country TV on Saturday January 4 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
Queensland singer-songwriters Sammy White and Hayley Marsten appear on the show.
Tamworth Golden Guitarist Ashleigh Dallas and Arkansas traveller Erin Enderlin also return to the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
OLD DOMINION NO ONE MAN BAND
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Virginian quintet Old Dominion proves it's not a one man band on its return.
The band was named after home state - Virginia - and played 2018 CMC Rocks Queensland festival in Ipswich.
Members' strong suit is romance songs so it's no surprise their love plea One Man Band was an instant hit.
It's on the band's third album - a self-titled disc - produced for the first time with Shane McAnally.
"It's finally here. It's hard to believe the wait is over," band front-man Matthew Ramsey revealed.
"We've been waiting for months to put this album out, but we've been waiting our whole lives to create it. Just by listening, you give us purpose. Thank you for the opportunity to share our stories with you!”
One Man Band scored 127 million streams after a performance on Good Morning America .
“One Man Band is the first true love song we've ever released,” Ramsey said.
“One of the things we talk about the most in this band is how we can't imagine being on this crazy ride alone. We have each other to celebrate the highs and get through the challenges with. It's one of the best parts of being a band. Sure, you can make music alone. But if you find people you have a chemistry with a whole new world opens up. I think it's the same with life and love. You can go it alone. But sometimes there is another person out there that adds something to your music that you would have never had on your own. That's the show you want to take on the road. That's what this song is about."
The album's first single, Make It Sweet, was Old Dominion's seventh U.S. #1 hit.
CLICK HERE for an Old Dominion feature in The Diary on December 2, 2019.
MAREN MORRIS SHAKES HER BONES
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Texan troubadour Maren Morris is more than just a key to the success of female super group the Highwomen. Maren, now 29, proved her talent as a teen and now more than 10 years down that lost highway she has the success recipe. And it's not just the love of her singing spouse Ryan Hurd who first met at a songwriting session in 2013. They started dating two years later, were engaged in July 2017 and married on March 24, 2018, in Nashville and announced a baby son "The irony is just too rich that after a year of living in the GIRL headspace, the universe would give us a baby boy to even things out. See you in 2020, little one," Morris revealed in October. Maren says when the bones are good the rest don't matter. The Bones is on her sixth album Girl. |
Morris and Hozier also released a revamped version of The Bones that she wrote with Jimmy Robbins and Laura Veltz.
“When I first heard Like Real People Do I think I could actually hear my heart breaking and then immediately felt songwriter envy that I didn't write it first,” said Morris of a Hozier song.
“Hozier's soul and vulnerability is so arresting and fit so well with the foundational theme of my song The Bones . I feel so grateful to have him on it.”
“Something of love's enduring nature really comes through on The Bones , it's a gorgeous song,” said Hozier.
“I was delighted to be asked to sing with the Maren Morris on this track - she is such a wonderful artist.”
Morris also is a member of The Highwomen with Brandi Carlisle, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby.
CLICK HERE for a Morris feature in The Diary on June 18, 2016.
SAMMY WHITE CHOIR PRACTICE
Townsville temptress Sammy White leads her choir practice with some young gal pals in her Nu Country TV debut.
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Sammy, just 21, also gave a new meaning to sharing a drink with a male pest in her video for Drowning My Sorrows. White's debut single, released in May, was directed by Mornington Peninsula singer-songwriter Lachlan Bryan and Damian Cafarella. Sammy visited the annual CMA Fest in Nashville. “It was so big,” Sammy revealed. “It was part of my 21st birthday present to go over there. We went for the festival. I organised a couple of co-writes while I was over there. I ended up doing three gigs while I was in town and I also did a recording session as well, three original tracks. |
“I'm looking at putting them towards either an EP or an album to release next year. I'm more of a lyric-based writer as opposed to a melodic person, so for me words just come quite easily.”
“The songs that I recorded, one of them I actually wrote while I was in Nashville and recorded it the following week. It was a really quick turnaround for me. The other two I wrote last year, so I've been sitting on them for a little while.
“One of them is about Townsville, about growing up here and the places and things that I've seen, and the other two are about relationships and boys, because when you're 21 that's just what you write about.
“You might as well turn a bad experience into something useful.”
Further info - https://www.sammywhitemusic.com.au/
HAYLEY MARSTEN CONTINUES WINE THEME
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Fellow Queensland singer-songwriter Hayley Marsten continues our drinking theme in her Nu Country return.
Gladstone gal Hayley, now 26, illustrated a ruptured romance in Brisbane in her video for Red Wine, White Dress.
Marsten recorded it for new album Spectacular Heartbreak that includes songs she wrote with Lyn Bowtell, Imogen Clark and Melody Moko.
Hayley also plays mandolin, a 21st birthday present, on her album that followed two EPS Even and Lonestar and a brace of videos in a career that began when she wrote her first song, aged seven.
“The album name is super dramatic but I think the songs either fall into being about spectacular or heartbreaking,” Marsten revealed.
Marsten recorded her album with producer Matt Fell at his aptly titled Love Hz studio in Sydney.
“When we went into the studio I told Matt my main vision for the album was that it be reflective of who I am as a person - a little bit dramatic, with a lot of personality and fun.” Hayley explained.
“He really flipped for it and totally ran with my ideas of getting strings and letting my friend and country musician Arna Georgia whistle on one of the tracks.”
Marsten could have made it a solitary project but her intention was opposite.
“I think at first glance you could probably write this album off as a break-up album,” Marsten explained.
“But I don't listen to it and think of it as something born from heartbreak, even though it technically was. I think it's more a story of strength in the face of that, even in the more vulnerable songs. And because I knew it was going to be very honest and raw I made a decision that I wanted to write with my friends, which made it even more special. It really feels to me like I had friends coming together in all aspects to help me make this record.”
Further info - http://www.hayleymarsten.com/
ASHLEIGH DALLAS ON VACATION WITH NO PHONE
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Dual Golden Guitarist Ashleigh Dallas returns with sound advice for any time of the year.
Turn off the phone and head to the surf.
Ashleigh, now 25, wrote Vacation with her fellow Golden Guitarist dad Brett for her fourth album Reflection.
She follows a proud family tradition.
Her grandpa Rex, 80, also won Golden Guitars in 1975 and 1976
Dallas went on the road as a teenager as a fiddler in Kasey Chambers' band in Australia and the USA twice over five and a half years.
She was the opening act for Chambers' gigs as well as her fiddle player and became acclaimed for her own music and as a musician.
Dallas later backed other artists Troy Cassar-Daley and Shane Nicholson before her 2013 her debut album Dancing With A Ghost that scored her Golden Guitar for New Talent of the Year.
CLICK HERE for an Ashleigh CD feature in The Diary on December 7, 2013.
ERIN ENDERLIN MOTEL MEMORIES
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Arkansas singer-songwriter Erin Enderlin follows in drink steps of Australian peers.
Erin , 37, sought liquid solace and smoked her memories alone in her motel room retreat in her video for Til It's Gone.
It's is on her third EP Chapter 1 - I Don't Give A Damn - and follows her second album Whiskeytown Crier , produced by Jamey Johnson.
Erin released her third album Faulkner County on November 1.
She celebrated release in Nashville with an album signing and acoustic show at The Ernest Tubb Record Shop and concert on The Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman.
The 14 track album was produced by Jim “Moose” Brown and Jamey Johnson.
It features a stellar cast including Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Terri Clark, Dillon Carmichael, Cody Jinks and other songwriters.
Erin previously appeared on Nu Country with her videos for Tonight, I Don't Give A Damn, Broken - a highlight of Whiskeytown Crier - Ain't It Just Like a Cowboy and World Without Willie with Tara Thompson.
Further info - https://www.erinenderlin.com/
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.