DAVE'S DIARY - 23/3/2020 PREVIEW OF EPISODE 5 - SERIES 43
GEORGE DUCAS HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Texan born singer-songwriter George Ducas headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday March 28 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
Fellow Texan Tanya Tucker and North Carolina born tourist Jim Lauderdale return to Behind Bars on the show repeated Thursday at 5 am.
New York state refugee Ruthie Collins debuts on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Expat Kiwi Kaylee Bell and Shellharbour singer-songwriter Kora Naughton boomerang with new videos.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
GEORGE LONESOME LOVE
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Texas City born George Ducas returns with romantic advice in new video Don't Leave Her Lonely.
It features him wandering and performing in an empty bar - maybe where he met the woman about whom he's singing.
"There's a lot I love about this song," Ducas, now 53, revealed as his video features a female fire dancer.
"Clearly there's some regret and heartbreak - but also a girl, or woman, who has some fire, knows what she wants and won't stand for less - at least not for long.
“Some of the best songs come from times when we identify with those feelings that put us either on top of the world or, in this case, emotionally destroyed. When music is at its best, whether we are creating it or taking it in, it gives us the chance to explore our own emotions and experiences, think them through, and hopefully overcome life's hardships."
Don't Leave Her Lonely is one of his 12 originals on fourth album Yellow Rose Motel, released in December, shortly after his mentor mother died.
George called her "the driving creative force in my life" - the parent who passed down his talent - and shared some new songs with her before she died.
"Those are memories I'll keep for the rest of my life," he says, "and ones I'll have every time I play these songs onstage. This is the first video where I feature my midnight blue Rickenbacker . She's a beauty."
George is keen to tour here soon.
CLICK HERE for a Ducas interview in The Diary on August 26, 2019.
TANYA TUCKER HOME MEMORIES
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Former Texan teen star Tanya Tucker returns with a collage of images to illustrate her life story.
She performs The House That Built Me from 27th album While I'm Living that won Tanya her first two Grammys in February.
Brandi Carlile produced Tanya's album with Shooter Jennings but her Hamer Hall concert on April 6 has been cancelled.
Tanya won best country album for While I'm Living and best country song for Bring My Flowers Now .
The wins were the first for Tanya after 10 nominations dating back 47 years.
“After 50 years in this business, and it's still unbelievable to me that I still have a few firsts left,” Tanya revealed.
“So after 14 trips, 14 nominations, this is the first win, and I can't believe it. I just want to say that no matter how young or old you are, never stop following your dreams. Keep going.”
Fellow Texan Willie Nelson's song Ride Me Back Home won best country solo performance.
Tanya appeared with Shooter and Brandi in previous videos Hard Luck and The Wheels Of Laredo .
She topped charts at 13 with Alex Harvey penned hit Delta Dawn and David Allan Coe's Would You Lay With Me In A Field Of Stone .
Further info - https://www.tanyatucker.com/
JIM LAUDERDALE BLUEGRASS BLAST
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North Carolina born Presbyterian minister's son and frequent Australian tourist Jim Lauderdale returns to Behind Bars . Jim, now 62, performs a live version of new single Cackalacky. It's one of 13 originals on Jim's 33rd album When Carolina Comes Home Again released on March 27 on Yep Roc Records. Jim wrote Cackalacky with North Carolina songwriter/activist Si Kahn - it declares North Carolina "always means home sweet home." |
"Si Kahn is a national treasure," said Lauderdale.
"I've wanted to write with him for a long time, especially after talking about it for years at MerleFes t and IBMA. I'm so proud and happy to have written this song of Carolina with him, and I hope this will be the first of many songs with Si. North Carolina has a long important heritage in bluegrass music.
"Since it's where I'm originally from and where I started playing bluegrass, it seemed right to go back to my roots in bluegrass there and collaborate with musicians in that area. There's just something in the atmosphere there. Hearing bluegrass in different areas and settings in North Carolina , the music is just there in the air. The first bluegrass festival I ever went to was Union Grove when I was 14, and it blew my mind. The music got into my bones and I just had to get a banjo."
The album follows 2019's From Another World recorded at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville , North Carolina.
It features members of North Carolina acts Balsam Range , Cane Mill Road , Hank Pattie and the Current , John Stickley, Songs From The Road Band, Steep Canyon Rangers and Town Mountain .
The album co-writes include John Oates on the title track, late Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter on As A Sign, Songs From The Road Band bassist Charles R. Humphrey III on Misery's Embrace, The Last To Know, You'll Have To Earn It , Steep Canyon Rangers banjo player Graham Sharp It Takes One To Wonder , Logan Ledger on Better Than You Found It and Sara Douga I'm Here To Remind You.
Jim played the 2019 Out On The Weekend festival in Williamstown and Caravan Club in October.
CLICK HERE for a Jim feature in The Diary on September 23, 2019.
RUTHIE COLLINS VISITS JOSHUA TREE
New York state farm raised Ruthie Collins performs a true-life tale on her debut.
She revisited the Joshua Tree motel room where Gram Parsons died at 26 in 1973.
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Gram was in The Flying Burrito Brothers and Byrds and sang with Emmylou Harris. Ruthie wrote Joshua Tree after she split with a man whose drug plight echoed Gram's demise. “I had just gotten out of a relationship with a guy battling addiction and had been through a similar situation," Ruthie revealed. "I realised that not only did the music video match the story that had inspired the song, but it also mirrored the overarching theme of my entire record. At first I was wary of making a music video so similar until I realised that it wasn't just his story. In a way, it was mine too. |
“We filmed half of the video in the actual room that Gram passed in, so that was a wildly surreal and pretty spooky experience. The moment I started singing my first take of the chorus, a white dreamcatcher fell off the wall onto the bed I was sitting on. The whole crew froze and you could feel the electricity in the air. I remember awkwardly laughing and saying and saying, ‘well, Gram's here?!”
Joshua Tree is first single off Ruthie's second album.
Further info - https://ruthiecollinsmusic.com/
KORA NAUGHTON SPEECHLESS
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Teenage Shellharbour singer-songwriter Kora Naughton is speechless on return. Kora began writing songs at school at Albion Park near Shell Harbour before she had spinal surgery and graduated last year at 18. She performs her Speechless video that follows debut album Ride Or Die. “I was sitting around in my lounge room and I had this melody that I really wanted to use stuck in my head but I had a bit of writers' block, so as a joke, I literally wrote about having a catchy tune and a melody and no words to go with it and it ended up being the first verse!” Kora revealed. |
“The song turned into something different, something a little bit fun and upbeat that has a sense of cheekiness about it. I'm really excited about how people are going to react to this song because it's so unlike anything I've done previously”,
Further info - https://www.koranaughton.com.au/
KAYLEE BELL WASTED
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Expat Kiwi and 2013 Tamworth Starmaker winner Kaylee Bell examines the recovery period after heartbreak in her return.
Kaylee is from small town Waimate on New Zealand 's south island and filmed her Wasted On You video outside Nashville.
"The director Preston and I went solely with our gut feel for the vibe of the music video on the day and found the perfect location half an hour out of Nashville that captured the last of the sunset for the day,” Bell revealed.
“The space had a spiritual feel, the way the sun beamed through the broken windows and as it slowly got dark the way the light changed to a moody blue tone, made me feel like I was in a church."
Songwriters were expat Aussie star Morgan Evans, Adam Eckersley, Ashley Gorley and Michael Fatkin.
It follows her single Keith - tribute to fellow expat Kiwi Keith Urban.
Bell performed #1 single We Were Us with Urban on his Light The Fuse Australian tour in 2014 and his 2016 Ripcord World Tour.
She supported The Dixie Chicks on their 2017 World Tour in New Zealand to a crowd of 30,000.
Bell spent the past ten years travelling to Nashville , USA writing and perfecting her craft.
Her breakout song That's What I Call Crazy was followed by Getting Closer written with Morgan Evans.
Further info - www.kayleebellmusic.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.