DAVE'S DIARY - 14/12/2020 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 4 - SERIES 46
\RAY STEVENS HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Octogenarian comedian-singing actor Ray Stevens saves Santa as he headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday December 19 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.
North Carolina outlaws Eric Church and Luke Combs return to the show repeated Wednesday at 10.30 pm and Thursday at 4.30 am.
California born surfing cowboy Gary Allan and Florida Moonshiner's daughter Elizabeth Cook boomerang to the program filmed and edited by our multi-talented lockdown host Laith Graham.
Western Sydney singer-songwriter Blake Dantier debuts this week.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
STEVENS SAVES SANTA FROM BEHIND BARS
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Georgian Ray Stevens has welcome news for all good girls and boys on his Nu Country return.
Ray, 81, had bad dreams on Christmas Eve before he saved Santa from finishing up being Behind Bars in his historic video.
Nightmare Before Christmas was on Stevens 2010 album Christmas Through A Different Window.
Ray has made more than 100 albums in his 65-year career.
He also survived a fall from a camel on St Kilda beach here when promoting his huge hit Ahab The Arab.
The TV show host, comedian, actor and hit writer is not slowing down - he signed a new record deal in October.
The Country Music Hall of Famer returned to Curb Records for 50th anniversary edition of signature hit Everything Is Beautiful out October 30.
Stevens song earned a Grammy for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance in 1970 and was nominated for Grammy for Record and Song of the Year.
His rendition of Everything Is Beautiful spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Two versions of Everything Is Beautiful were released in October - a traditional recording and second version that incorporates patriotic classic United We Stand.
Stevens fronted Nu Country with humorous videos for Red Hot Chili Cook-Off in Texas , The Streak, Quarantined, Grandpa Voted Democrat and Taylor Swift Is Stalking Me .
His satiric hits include Osama, Yo' Mama, Sitting Up With The Dead, The Streaker, The Mississippi Squirrel Revival and Shriners Convention.
Further info - https://raystevens.com/
ERIC CHURCH INVADES CRAZY LAND
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The 54th CMA Awards Entertainer Of The Year Eric Church returns with another video he recorded and filmed in isolation.
Church, 43, and band mates delivered Crazy Land that is set for release on his 10th album in 2021.
It was one of many new songs he wrote and road tested in his home studio with videos.
They included Hell Of A View that he performed live on the 54th CMA Awards show.
Church and fellow North Carolina outlaw protégé Luke Combs won a triple shot of major CMA Awards in Nashville on November 11.
He headlined our Series #46 premiere in November with a lockdown video for Bad Mother Trucker featuring singer Joanna Cotten.
Eric celebrated his first Entertainer of Year award with an emotional speech that praised peers for survival during lockdown.
“This year, at least for me, has been about loss,” Church said while accepting the trophy.
“Loss of life, loss of playing shows, loss of freedom, loss of kids being in school. And you know what the win is? The win is we all were here tonight, together as country music - in person, live, not on zoom and I believe this, I really believe this. It's gonna be music that brings us out of this. That is the one thing that's gonna save the entire world. Politicians are about division - music is about unity.”
His Stick That in Your Country Song video appeared on Nu Country before his iso videos Never Break Heart, Bad Mother Trucker during lockdown.
CLICK HERE for a Church feature in The Diary on December 10, 2018.
LUKE COMBS LOVE
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North Carolina nouveau outlaw and dual 54th CMA Awards winner Luke Combs returns with a family celebration.
Combs, now 30, sings of how his family supported him before he found fame and success
They fuelled his music dreams at school and college.
Luke performed his Without You video with his trio during isolation.
Amanda Shires joins him on the song on the deluxe version of his second CD What You See Is What You Get that broke international sales records.
Combs thanked wife Nicole as he accepted his album and male vocalist of year awards.
Luke joins expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban by writing songs for a wife named Nicole whom he married on August 1 on a southern Florida beach.
Luke played St Kilda Palais on March 13, 2019, with Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde.
But it was Nicole who inspired many songs including Loving On You.
Combs also filmed live videos for topical Six Feet Apart and Eric Church on their duet on Does To Me.
His smash debut deluxe disc This One's For You 2 was #1 for 44 weeks on Billboard.
Combs broke a record set by Randy Travis Always and Forever that spent 43 non-consecutive weeks No.1 in 1987-1988.
His album held second-longest run at No.1 for country album after Shania Twain's 1997 album Come On Over 50 weeks reign.
In July he became first artist to have their first two studio albums spend 25 weeks or better at No. 1 on Billboard Country chart.
It broke the record set by Taylor Swift who previously led with 24 weeks.
Combs charted five tracks from The Prequel on Billboard Top 25 in June, 2019 - a feat not accomplished since Johnny Cash in 1959.
He recorded Let's Just Be Friends for The Angry Birds Movie 2 .
CLICK HERE for our What You See Is What You Get CD feature in The Diary on November 25, 2019.
GARY ALLAN MATERNAL MEMORIES
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Californian Gary Allan celebrated his 53rd birthday on December 5 long after his two Australian tours in 2005 and 2014.
The thrice wed singer, now 46 and father of six children, resurrected one of his embryonic hits live in Behind Bars at Whiskey Wednesdays .
Don't Tell Mama was originally on his third album Smoke Rings In The Dark.
His 12th album Hard Way is due next year.
Allan also appeared on Nu Country with songs diverse as It Ain't The Whiskey and Waste Of A Whiskey Drink.
He used whiskey metaphors after third wife Angela Herzberg committed suicide with a single gunshot wound just after midnight on October 25, 2004.
Texan Angela pulled the fatal trigger but the ricochet fuelled morose songs by latter day Nashville widower Gary.
CLICK HERE for a Gary Allan CD Review in the Diary on February 8, 2013.
ELIZABETH COOK BAD DECISIONS
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Moonshiner's daughter Elizabeth Cook returns with new video Bad Decisions that follow Thick Georgia Woman and Bones from her seventh album Aftermath.
The youngest of 12 children Cook is now aged 48 and wrote diverse songs with Sydney singer Melinda Schneider.
Cook and Schneider wrote together after Melinda saw Elizabeth on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
The duo wrote Sometimes It Takes Balls To Be A Woman, Rest Your Weary Mind and I Like Men In Trucks and other tunes in creative sessions.
Elizabeth shares maternal music genes with Schneider whose mother Mary is an Aussie country pioneer.
Cook's mum Joyce played mandolin and guitar and her dad Tom played bass in an Atlanta prison band as he did time for moonshining.
Tom and Joyce fronted a duo named Medicare after the last of his 10 years in jail in the sixties.
One of Cook's previous Nashville bands featured recently deceased Midnight Oil bassist Bones Hillman.
She toured here with former singing spouse Tim Carroll in 2013 and played Northcote Social Club and Tamworth.
CLICK HERE for our interview with Elizabeth in The Diary on November 9, 2008
BLAKE DANTIER DOES IT AGAIN
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West Sydney singer Blake Dantier debuts live in the studio with mates on his new video.
Blake sang of growing up, falling in love and making mistakes.
He performed I'd Do It Again from his new album to be released next year.
“It's about owning those mistakes despite how much it might have messed you up at the time and being proud of who you are because of them,” Dantier revealed.
The video was filmed by Michael Carpenter with a camera set on each musician while they play the song in the studio.
“Everything you see in the video is well and truly live. It's exactly the way we recorded it,” Dantier explained.
It was recorded with Simon Johnson from Hillbilly Hut who played bass, Duncan Toombs on electric guitar, Rod Motbey acoustic, drummer Brad Bergen and Cass Hopetoun on backing vocals.
His previous single Ash And Dust was therapy - he wrote it about a young friend who died of cancer
Further info - https://blakedantier.com.au/
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support in Nu Country TV's 46th series with Australian record companies and major artists teaming to ensure our survival.
We have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12 th album The Speed Of Now - Part 1.
Also vintage BR5-49 CD Big Backyard Beat Show and Billy Ray Cyrus's historic 1992 album Some Gave All that features his Achy Breaky Heart hit.
You can join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales.
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, Eric Church and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.