DAVE'S DIARY - 25 JUNE 2021 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 5 - SERIES 48
WILLIE NELSON HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Texan singer-songwriter-actor Willie Nelson headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday June 26 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44
Fellow Texan Austin Meade debuts on the show repeated Wednesday at 11.30 pm.
Arkansas nouveau outlaw Ashley McBryde and Oklahoma singer-songwriter Parker Milsap revisit the program edited by multi-talented lockdown producer Laith Graham.
Sydney singer songwriter-producer Michael Carpenter and Tamworth singer Sally Ann Whitten also boomerang this week.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
WILLIE ON THE ROAD AGAIN
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Octogenarian Willie Nelson revisits his oft covered classic On The Road Again live on the eve of his July 4 picnic streaming and series of Outlaw music festivals with a star studded cast of peers and protegees.
Willie, now 88, had his two vaccine shots during his isolation on his ranch near Austin, Texas.
Nelson recently released his second Frank Sinatra tribute disc That's Life - one of his 145 albums in his seven decade career that started in hometown Abbott with his elder pianist sister Bobbie, now 90.
Willie's 48th July 4 picnic, hosted by his sons Lukas and Micah, will be streamed live with historic footage from diverse locales including Luck saloon and chapel in his western movie town.
Guests include fellow Texans Asleep At The Wheel , Kinky Friedman, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen, Robert Earl Keen, Steve Earle, Lyle Lovett, Charley Crockett, Lukas Nelson and Promise Of The Real, Ashley McBryde, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff, Jamey Johnson, Sheryl Crow, The McCrary Sisters, Ziggy Marley and John Doe.
CLICK HERE for a Willie Nelson CD feature in the Diary on August 17, 2020.
CLICK HERE for a Willie Nelson CD feature in The Diary on August 5, 2019.
AUSTIN MEADE PREACHING IN TEXAS
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Texan Baptist preacher's son Austin Meade grew up playing drums and guitar in his father's local church band before heading to Austin to pursue music.
Meade, now 26, studied agricultural business at Texas A & M university before his career change with regular gigs in iconic New Braunfels and San Marcos bars.
But he returned to hometown Brenham to film his Happier Alone video from his third album Snake Farm on Black Sheep records.
I played this song at least 30 times the first day we wrote it, Meade revealed. For me, it doesn't get old and the idea for the video was sitting in my head for a few months. It's a tip of the hat to my high school hometown: Brenham , Texas . I've always wanted to go back and shoot a video with old friends in the places that we loved hanging out when we were younger. So we got a killer crew together and made it happen.
The album also includes Cave In, DÉJÀ VU and Dopamine Drop and follows his second album Waves that featured Pay Phone, Growing Pains, Seven Letters and Mountain Past.
Meade's band opened for Cody Canada and The Departed as he taught music at Canada's School of Rock franchise in New Braunfels .
It keeps Meade grounded.
I see a lot of guys release something and then expect to sell out thousand-seat venues within a year," Austin revealed.
"They love themselves or maybe their grandma told them their stuff is great. The market has just become so oversaturated that there is a lot of shit and sometimes it's hard to sift through it to find the good stuff.
Further info - https://www.austinmeade.com/
ASHLEY MCBRYDE LIVE IN MOTHER CHURCH
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Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde returns live to her favourite church - Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
The nouveau outlaw, now 37, performs new single First Thing I Reach For from her sixth album Never Will that followed Girl Going Nowhere.
Ashley toured here in 2019 before the pandemic with North Carolina chart topper Luke Combs and played St Kilda Palais and the CMC Rocks Queensland festival.
Ashley is one of eight children of a Mammoth Springs farmer and preacher and wrote Girl Going Nowhere the day after Texan mentor Guy Clark died at 74 on May 17, 2016.
McBryde rides in the slipstream of Ray Wylie Hubbard, David Allan Coe and late Texans Townes Van Zandt and Clark.
She recruited three young god-sons in her American Scandal video, honoured her dad in Radio Land and played Behind Bars in A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega.
She released debut EP in 2006 before four indie albums and 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/
PARKER MILLSAP BACK IN THE SADDLE
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Pentecostal raised Oklahoma singer-songwriter Parker Millsap continues our biblical theme on his Nu Country return.
The Oklahoma born songsmith keeps the Millsap family name in the footlights with his video for Be Here - the title track of his fifth album - released on April 9.
Millsap previously appeared on Nu Country with his Pining video from third album The Very Last Day .
Parker finds safety and solace when he follows his muse in a forest and small town near Oklahoma City where he lives with journalist wife Meg.
Millsap, now 27, dreamed of a house, wife and children on his live version of song Homeless on Nu Country in February 2015.
He performed it with mates in Norman - hometown of Vince Gill.
Both sides of my family have been here for five generations, revealed Millsap.
100 years ago, when my ancestors got to Oklahoma , it wasn't much more than some hard dirt, a few railroad stops, and a bunch of cattle. It's still about the same except you can add oil rigs in there too. The folks who moved here and survived had to be rugged, and they had to rely on each other, because the landscape sure as hell wasn't doing them any favours. I could go on about my Okie theories for days, but I think that there remains a sort of pioneer spirit here.
Further info - http://parkermillsap.com/
SALLY ANNE WHITTEN OUT OF THE SHADOWS
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Tamworth singer-songwriter Sally-Anne Whitten returns after losing her mother in the Covid crisis.
The bucolic belle could not even visit her mum because of health restrictions.
It seems fitting she illustrated her family crisis in her new Not Afraid Of The Dark video that follows her third album Burgundy Street.
I was adamant this had to be a bright, light song, Whitten revealed.
A tribute to all those warrior friends who just keep on keeping on. Legends. I had this idea running around for ages about a song with respect to these people in my life. Those who were unfailingly always there for me when I needed them. And those people are friends and family who had already been or were going through the most incredible hardships in their own lives, but bravely kept their heads up and charged on. They're so inspiring, they're not afraid of the dark but also not afraid to help others through the dark.
Further info - https://www.sallyannewhitten.com/
MICHAEL CARPENTER BANKS ON THE OTHER GUYS
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Sydney singer songwriter-producer Michael Carpenter returns with the Banks Brothers and drummer-vocalist Lozz Benson in Me, You And The Other Guy video.
The joint venture follows previous Nu Country video Honky Tonker with pedal steel ace Jy-Perry Banks from their album Introducing.
Carpenter joined Gold Coast singer-songwriter-author Allan Caswell with Back When I Was Older in 2016.
Michael released guitar pop solo album The Big Radio in 2016, followed by alt. country project The Cuban Heels and album Ain't Nothing Left To Say.
His country combo The April Family , formed in 2015, recorded their debut album after two singles.
They performed their One Trick Pony video from second album House Of Cards in 2018 - sequel to debut disc What We Know Now .
The trio previously appeared on with You Are Just The Blues, You're Someone That I Never Knew and 1943.
Whitney worked at Carpenter's Love Hz studio as a backing vocalist and released her debut album Something About Ghosts in 2015.
Further info - http://www.mcarp.com
WIN WAYLON, GEORGE JONES AND HIGHWAYMEN
George Jones, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were among country historian Barbara Dowling's favourite Texans.
You can win Waylon Jennings, Highwaymen , Merle Haggard and George Jones discs donated by Barbara who died at 77 in December by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your membership.
She co-hosted Long In The Saddle in our Nu Country FM era and was pioneer Australian and Victorian country music awards judge.
Barbara was admired for rising above losing her sight as a young woman and her country passion with annual trips to Waylon's birthplace in Littlefield, West Texas.
Waylon died at 64 on February 13, 2002, and is survived by singing spouse Jessi, now 77, and son Shooter, 41.
WIN KEITH URBAN CDS ALSO
We have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12th album The Speed Of Now - Part 1.
Also 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.
Join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales.
We 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, Kip Moore and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.