DAVE'S DIARY - 24/2/2020 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 1 - SERIES 43
LUKE O'SHEA AND LYN BOWTELL HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Prolific Golden guitarists Luke O'Shea and Lyn Bowtell headline Nu Country TV Series #43 premiere on Saturday February 29 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
West Texan troubadours Randy Rogers and Kevin Fowler return to the show hosted by Mid Pacific Bob Olson, and repeated Tuesday at 5 am.
Canadian outlaw Cory Marks debuts with Georgian Travis Tritt in Behind Bars on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Alabama born John Paul White also returns and Gippsland Destiny Band showcase their horses and music.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
LUKE AND LYN WIN
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Luke O'Shea and Lyn Bowtell showcase our history, beauty and rugged grandeur in their Jay Seeney directed Sing Me A Story video filmed in the Blue Mountains.
Cronulla singer-songwriter-school teacher Luke, now 50 and father of three, wrote the song with fellow prolific Golden Guitarist Felicity Urquhart.
Darling Downs farm born Lyn, aged 43, now lives in the Hunter Valley - she also recorded with Felicity and Kevin Bennett as Bennett-Bowtell-Urquhart.
Sing Me A Story won Golden Guitars for Vocal Collaboration and Heritage Song of the Year at 48 th Golden Guitar Awards on January 25.
It was Luke's sixth Heritage Song winner, his 11 th Golden Guitar and Bowtell's ninth.
“Lyn and I are absolutely blown away by the level of support for the song,” Luke said.
“For me, the wins are very humbling and deeply satisfying. The song was co-written with Felicity Urquhart out at the mighty DAG Sheep Station in Nundle as part of the Songwriters Retreat in front of a lot of people including our peers, to demonstrate how one goes about a co-write.”
Luke wanted the song to connect with listeners.
“The intention from the start was let's go deep and to the very heart of what country music is,” he said.
“It was a torturous affair for all there, but I truly believe each of them lent their muses for just a little while which really added to the magic and, finally, we all got there in the end.
“Sing Me A Story for me, now, encapsulates all that - and gauging from the level of love and support it's received within its very short life - I think we might have got it right.”
The track is first single from Luke's seventh album, There In The Ochre.
Felicity also won six Golden Guitars this year.
CLICK HERE for a Luke CD feature on April 3, 2017.
CLICK HERE for a Bowtell CD feature on October 20, 2014.
CLICK HERE for a Bennett-Bowtell-Urquhart CD feature on October 15, 2018.
JOHN PAUL WHITE AND WHISPERING BILL
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April tourist John Paul White revisits his Muscle Shoals roots in Florence, Alabama, with wife Jenny, children and canine.
White serves cakes as a waiter in I Wish I Could Write You A Song video from his fourth album The Hurting Kind recorded at his home studio in North Alabama.
He wrote I Wish I Could Write You A Song and You Lost Me with Whispering Bill Anderson, now 81.
“This is me putting the rose between my teeth and trying to write a romantic song,” White revealed.
“Trying to measure up to this feeling that I have in my heart and not being able to get it on the page is the most endearing part of the sentiment. I'm a huge fan of Roy Orbison and always felt like he allowed himself to go as big and grandiose as the song wanted him to be. I don't think there are a lot of people in popular music, especially men, who allow that to happen. So I was fully willing.”
White wrote other new originals with Bobby Braddock, Sanger D Whitey Shafer, Wayland Holyfield and Paul Overstreet
He wrote This Isn't Gonna End Well - featuring Lee Ann Womack and Lillie May - with Bobby Braddock, now 79, and collaborated with Shafer on the last song Shafer wrote before he died in 2019.
White, now 47, was born in Florence, Alabama, and raised on a chicken farm in Loretta, Tennessee.
The father of three topped charts with Joy Williams in their Civil Wars duo.
Prine and White were scheduled to play St Kilda Palais on April 14, Sydney and Adelaide but Prine has been struck down by a recurring hip injury and cancelled all tours and concerts.
Further info - http://www.johnpaulwhite.com/
CORY MARKS AND TRAVIS TRITT
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Canadian outlaw Cory Marks debuts in Behind Bars with singing Georgian actor Travis Tritt.
They perform Outlaws and Outsiders from his second album Who Am I.
“Outlaws & Outsiders is a song for anyone who's ever felt different or like an outsider, period,” Cory revealed of the song that embodies similarities between country and rock music and their fans.
“You can be an outlaw in many ways and as an artist, for me, it's simply creating something different, something unique and out of the box. It is doing my own thing and telling my own story.”
The video features Ivan Moody from Five Finger Death Punch and Mick Mars from Motley Crue .
“Growing up on country and rock music being inspired by songs like The Rolling Stones Honky Tonk Woman , bands like Deep Purple and Ozzy Osbourne, the original outlaws and outsiders, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, shaped my musical style,” Marks explained.
“It's a true honour to be working with the country music outlaw of my generation the great Travis Tritt. He is such a down to earth guy and a great pleasure to work with, he's the real deal and I'm very thankful to be working with him.”
Cory is from North Bay, Ontario, and tours Canada with Gippsland born Gord Bamford.
Further info - http://www.corymarks.com/
RANDY ROGERS HELLBENT
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West Texan Randy Rogers gives new meaning to an old beer chaser in his latest video filmed at Freheit Country Store - an 1880's dance hall in New Braunfels south of Austin.
Randy, now 40, joined his band and bar-room belles for dance aerobics after he copped a spray at the bar.
I'll Never Get Over You is on his 13th album Hellbent that he has promoted on tour with fellow Texan Miranda Lambert who debuts here in March.
Randy hails from Cleburne, Texas, and keeps traditional country alive at his Cheatham Street Warehouse in San Marcos.
He bought the venue that has staged live country since 1974, including one of Randy's albums in 2000, from the family of late singer-songwriter Kent Finlay in 2015
Cheatham Street Warehouse hosted songwriters open mic night every Wednesday for more than 40 years.
Guest artists include Randy, Hal Ketchum, James McMurtry, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Billy Joe Shaver, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Ernest Tubb, Townes Van Zandt, Todd Snider, Terri Hendrix, Bruce Robison, Tish Hinojosa, Adam Carroll, Walt Wilkins, Will and Charlie Sexton.
“I still get butterflies when I step on that stage,” Rogers says.
“I'm going to make sure other songwriters and musicians, young and old, get to experience that same feeling for many years to come. That's my goal.
“We grew up on fiddle and steel in Texas. We learned to play guitar from Willie Nelson records. It's part of the fabric of who we were. You can't take that out. That's been the music from day one with this band.
“We've made records before where there were country songs on the record, but this one, the songs are as country as anything we've made. They're Strait country. I say that with respect. George Strait is my biggest hero.”
Further info - http://www.randyrogersband.com/
KEVIN FOWLER BETTER WITH BEER
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West Texan born Kevin Fowler proves a dab hand as mobile bar tender on land and water in his latest video.
Fowler was greeted by thirsty mower men and floral fillies in Better With Beer is from 12th album Barstool Stories .
The 53-year old Amarillo born father of three daughters revealed he was raised on George Jones and other major country stars
Fowler's hits include Beer, Bait & Ammo, Hip Hop In a Honky Tonk and Santa Got Busted by the Border Patrol.
The latter was inspired by Shotgun Willie Nelson's drug busts - and features a cameo by Asleep At The Wheel singer Ray Benson.
Kevin also recorded Don't Touch My Willie about his hero - singing actor Nelson who turns 87 on April 30.
Fowler has a penchant for booze songs - The Lord Loves a Drinking Man, Beer Season, Long Neckin' (Makes for Short Memories), Drinking Days, Ain't Drinking No More, Beer Money and All The Tequila in Tijuana .
Louisiana gubernatorial candidate Sammy Kershaw and fellow Texans George Jones and Mark Chesnutt recorded Beer, Bait & Ammo - title track of his 2000 album.
Fowler writes songs driving his pickup at his ranch near Junction - he calls them "presents from the song Gods."
"Those seem to be the best ones," he said of songs including Cheaper To Keep Her.
He penned Ain't Dead Yet and Now You're Talkin' with Aussie tourist David Lee Murphy and drinking anthem I Pulled a Hank Last Night and Honky Tonk Junkie.
Further info - www.kevinfowler.com
DESTINY BAND PEACE OF MIND AT YINNAR
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The Destiny Band left King Lake for Gippsland refuge Yinnar - hometown of the Davidson Brothers after the Black Saturday bushfires.
They praised our bush and beauty in their video Peace Of Mind from their fourth album.
Thomas and Tessa Libreri share their peace with horses.
Tessa was raised in Kilsyth and graduated from Johnny Young Talent School in Richmond as an extra in Neighbours, Skirts, Flying Doctors, Carson 's Law, The Henderson Kids and Mission Impossible .
She met Reservoir born Thomas Libreri in Kinglake, formed a duo and band, married and had children.
They performed Yarra Valley, King Lake, Yea, Crown Casino, Parliament House and Federation Square while running their building and maintenance business.
In 2009 they fought Black Saturday Bushfires saving their family, neighbours and a dream home they purpose-built.
The home, replete with soundproof studio and band rehearsal room, is hired out by new owners for corporate getaways and song-writing workshops by country duo Carter & Carter .
Thomas received a Bravery Medal from the Governor General for saving a neighbour who was burnt in the fires but died three weeks later.
They moved to Gippsland and front Destiny band with pianist Ron Armstrong, drummer Tony Desira, bassist Bob Hutton and backing vocalist Jessica Loprese.
The band has another new video for Great Courage - 70th Wedding Anniversary of Doris and Emmanuel Libreri.
It's a tribute song by Thomas to his parents who migrated from Malta to Australia in the 1940s.
Doris, 86, and Emmanuel, 92, settled in Morwell before relocating to Reservoir, then South Morang and now live in Bundoora.
Further info - https://destinyband.webs.com/
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support in Nu Country TV's 43rd 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.