DAVE'S DIARY - 20/4/2020 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 9 - SERIES 43
DIXIE CHICKS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Texan superstar trio The Dixie Chicks headline Nu Country TV on Saturday April 25 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
Australian music icons Kasey Chambers and Paul Kelly also return to the show hosted by Mid-Pacific Bob Olson and repeated Thursday at 5 am.
Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde, Knoxville born singer-songwriter Rodney Atkins and prolific Hunter Valley Golden Guitarist Travis Collins boomerang to the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Californian Jaime Wyatt - touring partner of Shooter Jennings - makes her debut.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
CHICKS IGNITE A GASLIGHTER
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The Dixie Chicks make a provocative return after a 14-year recording void with an inspired video for the title track of their eighth album Gaslighter, out on May 1.
It was inspired by singer Natalie Maines former spouse - actor Adrian Pasdar - who tried to block release of the song and video.
Their anthem title refers to a term that feminists introduced to describe how bad men bamboozle their victims and others to hide their abusive behavior.
The Gaslighter video makes it clear this is an angry lambast for all women sick of being harassed or abused and then told they're just imagining their own lives.
Dixie Chicks return is timely soundtrack for country fans seeking #MeToo music.
The trio began in 1989 and won 13 Grammys but pursued solo careers after a 2006 hiatus from radio bans after Maines on-stage comments about the Iraq war.
But the trio kept their high profile with four greatest hits discs, live DVDS and international tours.
Maines and sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire - marched to their own drum - as they hit all targets with their strident messages.
Natalie met Pasdar at the wedding of Charlie Robison and Emily in 2000 and moved to California to start a family with him.
The couple has two children and divorced in July of 2017.
It was that divorce and aging of Natalie's kids that opened the door for a Dixie Chicks reunion.
CLICK HERE for a Dixie Chicks CD feature in The Diary on September 25, 2017.
JAIME WYATT FLASHES A NEON CROSS
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Los Angeles born outlaw Jaime Wyatt debuts with a fiery celebration of her colourful career.
Jaime tours with her producer Shooter Jennings who joins her in this explosive video for Neon Cross as they watch pole dancers in a bar but resist the temptation to ride horses in the alley.
“Shooter's my friend and, yeah, he's Shooter Jennings,” Jaime revealed of the singer who also duets with her on Hurts So Bad .
“But when it comes to the studio I don't care who you are. I'm decisive about what I want, so I've got to be able to work with you. And what really sold me on Shooter is that he understands grooves. He gets how to instruct a band to build a groove that is so powerful underneath a song. And it's crazy because that's what Waylon Jennings, Shooter's father did. He always had these rad country songs with these super-weird, like, funky rock ‘n' roll grooves under them. He would take things to interesting and unexpected places. Shooter has that same instinct. I have a pretty strong vision but Shooter would suggest some crazy rock reference on a song that I thought was clear-cut Buck Owens and somehow it would just be right. It was this real organic process of working together.”
Shooter's mother Jessi Colter sang on feminist anthem Just A Woman - one of Jamie's 11 original songs on her Neon Cross album out on May 25.
“I was just living my life and having a hard time with the fact that I can't really fully bro down with a guy who does what I do, because, you know, his wife is gonna look at me and think it's inappropriate,” Jamie revealed of the song.
“Also I'm leading a band full of young men, and I've been doing it for 20 years now, and I have to find a particular type of young man that's going to listen to me and trust me and want to work for a woman. And that's fine. It's a deeply ingrained thing and it's kind of odd that I do what I do. So I wanted to write a song that addressed all that without being too lame. Who better to do it with than the queen of outlaw country?”
Neon Cross follows her seven song EP Felony Blues that was inspired by going to gaol before she turned 21 for robbing her heroin dealer.
Further info - https://www.jaimewyatt.com/
ASHLEY MCBRYDE REACHES OUT
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Fellow female outlaw Ashley McBryde revealed some vices in her return to the road and regret of the morning after.
Ashley, now 36, performs The First Thing I Reach For Is The Last Thing I Need from her sixth album Never Will that follows fifth album Girl Going Nowhere and is out here this month.
It's the second in a trilogy of videos from the album.
"My manager, John Peets, and I had this idea to listen to the record and see what stories appeared, what threads of ideas were consistent in the songs we had gathered and what characters stood out," McBryde revealed.
"One night on the bus, Chris Harris (acoustic guitar, mandolin, harmonies) and I were having a few beverages after a show. I got out my sketch pad, and we wrote down each song from the record and each character. It looked like a crazy road map. It looked like a child had drawn it.
"But there it was. A way to connect every song and every video. I showed it to Peets, and we put it in director Reid Long's hands. And the rest is history."
Ashley is one of eight children of a Mammoth Springs farmer and preacher.
She played 2019 CMC Rocks Queensland festival and St Kilda Palais with North Carolina nouveau outlaw Luke Combs and wrote Girl Going Nowhere the day after Texan mentor Guy died at 74 on May 17, 2016.
Ashley rides in the slipstream of Ray Wylie Hubbard, David Allan Coe and late Texans Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark.
She recruited her three young god-sons in her American Scandal video honoured her dad in Radio Land and debuted Behind Bars in aptly titled A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega .
Ashley wrote it with Nicolette Hayford and Jesse Rice about a Georgian honky-tonk in a town of 5,200 people.
She released her debut EP in 2006 before four indie albums led to two albums produced by Jay Joyce.
CLICK HERE for Ashley's concert review in The Diary on March 13, 2019.
Further info - http://www.ashleymcbryde.com/
RODNEY ATKINS THANKS GOD FOR HIS FAMILY
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Knoxville born singer-songwriter Rodney Atkins returns with a Biblical message.
Adkins, now 51, reaches back to his youth in Thank God For You video from his sixth album Caught Up In The Country.
It was also a tribute to his second wife - fellow singer Rose Falcon.
The video stars Rodney's son Elijah who plays a younger version of Rodney who meets and falls in love with a young girl as the video fast forwards to present day Rodney and Rose.
"It's crazy how much a song can seem like I wrote it, but I didn't,” Atkins revealed.
“This one immediately hit me as a song for the fans, my supporters, everybody that's had an impact on my life - this song is for them. Seeing Eli play a young me made it so special. I love that this song is specifically for the 3 F's, family, friends and fans."
The album includes My Life - inspired by Rose's grandparents who were married more than 70 years - and title track single with Fisk Jubilee Singers .
It follows 2011 disc Take a Back Road and a 2015 Greatest Hits.
CLICK HERE for an Atkins review in the Diary on August 9, 2010.
KASEY AND PAUL OLD AND MAD
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Australian music icons Kasey Chambers and Paul Kelly return with a prophetic song after lengthy careers embracing country, bluegrass, pop and rock genres.
They mount push bikes for trips along roads and footpaths before performing indoors with a menagerie of hungry chooks, pigs, dogs, goats and other wildlife.
Kelly, AO and 65, teamed with Kasey, 43, after he released 23 albums with a vast cast of peers and bands.
Kasey's 20 albums include some with ex singing spouse Shane Nicholson and her embryonic Dead Ringer Band.
They perform When We're Both Old And Mad from Kelly's Greatest Hits: Songs From The South 1985-2019.
Kelly's career includes books and performing the 2019 AFL Grand Final and other major events.
CLICK HERE for a Kasey CD feature in The Diary on May 7. 2018.
TRAVIS COLLINS MAKES UP
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Seven time Golden Guitarist and 2019 CMA international award winner Travis Collins returns after a national tour with singing actor Tim McGraw and Texan band Midland.
Collins performs sensual video Make Up that follows seventh album The Brave And The Broken.
Travis, now 34, moved to Cessnock seven years ago with his wife Rebecca and wrote all songs on his album.
He is also a member of Adam Brand's Outlaws.
“We didn't approach these songs with a checklist and rulebook and I'm proud that it really shows here,” revealed Collins who was born in Macquarie Fields south of Sydney in sheep country.
“I just tried to write as real, relatable and honestly as I could, and we recorded what felt right. You know, the kind of songs we crank on the weekend, songs that make you think of someone or a song which takes us somewhere. Songs that put a lump in your throat, a smile on your face or a tear in your eye. All of us are brave and broken, depending on the day, and that is what I wanted these songs to be. Brave & The Broken isn't just an album title, it is all of us.”
Collins and former Qantas accountant Amber Lawrence combined in their video Our Backyard - title track of their seven song EP.
Travis busked on mean streets of Campbelltown as a teenager before winning 2004 Tamworth Starmaker Quest, writing songs in Nashville and touring U.S. and Europe.
CLICK HERE for a Travis Collins interview in The Diary on June 16, 2008.
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.