DAVE'S DIARY - 16 JULY 2022 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 7 - SERIES 52
WILLIE NELSON AND TAMI NEILSON HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Texan outlaw Shotgun Willie Nelson and Kiwi Tami Neilson headline Nu Country TV on Wednesday July 20 at 8 pm with a video filmed at Willie's movie town Luck .
Fellow Texan singing actor Lyle Lovett boomerangs to the show repeated Tuesday at 8 am and Saturdays - 11.30 pm.
Florida fiddler Joshua Hedley, expat Kiwi Luke Steele, Hunter Valley singer-songwriter Kirsty Lee Akers and Launceston born Casey Barnes return to the program filmed and edited by our multi-talented lockdown producer-host Laith Graham.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
TAMI IN LUCK WHEN SHE FINDS WILLIE
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Singer-songwriter Tami Neilson was in Luck - Willie Nelson's western movie town - when she found the red-headed stranger.
But the Canadian born belle was not in a posse with her police inspector husband when she filmed Beyond The Stars with Willie, now 89.
Neilson, 44 and mother of two sons, didn't take her brother Jay who appeared with her on Nu Country in her Any Fool With A Heart video on January 18, 2020.
Tami performed from age of 12 in family band The Neilsons and had two top 40 hits on Canadian charts with her family.
She won eight awards for Best Country Album, single and Female Country Artist in New Zealand after moving there in 2007.
Tami wrote Willie duet Beyond The Stars with fellow Kiwi singer-actor Delaney Davidson for her eighth album Kingmaker.
Her songs featured in TV series Nashville , Wanted, Sounds and The Brokenwood Mysteries.
Tami's police inspector husband out-ranks police spouses of Texans Miranda Lambert and Sunny Sweeney.
She fronted Behind Bars in her Holy Moses video on February 11, 2017, after debuting November 28, 2015, with fellow Kiwi Marlon Williams on Lonely - a song started by her late dad Ron in 1972.
Further info - http://www.tamineilson.com/
WILLIE BOOMERANG
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Willie boomeranged after mourning his pianist sister Bobbie who died at 91 on March 10.
Four times wed Willie repeated his wedding wishes in previous video I'll Love You Till The Day I Die from his 146th album A Beautiful Time released on his birthday - April 29.
Willie celebrated his 49th July 4 picnic and other major festivals by releasing his nine-album vinyl epic to celebrate his 60 years of recording and Me Please Anthology that features seven CDS.
Willie is joined on shows by sons Lukas and Micah who streamed his 48th July 4 picnic in iso last year 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, McCrary Sisters and Ziggy Marley.
Willie returned live to his Outlaw festivals that began June 24 in St. Louis and end September 23 in Philadelphia.
Brothers Osborne, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, ZZ Top, Gov't Mule , Zach Bryan, Steve Earle & The Dukes, Allison Russell, Charley Crockett, Larkin Poe, The War and Treaty, Brittney Spencer and Particle Kid are part of 20-plus date tour.
"The Outlaw Music Festival Tour has always been about family and friends coming together for a great day of music and fun, and with the amazing group of artists joining us, this year promises to be our most special Outlaw Tour to date. I just can't wait to get back on the road again," Willie revealed.
CLICK HERE for a Willie Nelson CD feature in the Diary on August 17, 2020.
CLICK HERE for another Willie CD feature in The Diary on August 5, 2019.
LYLE LOVETT JUNE SWOON
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Texan singer actor Lyle Lovett returns to Behind Bars with his seasonal swoon video.
Lyle, now 64, won fans on his 2010 Australian tour and starred in many movies and TV shows.
They included The Opposite of Sex, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Road Person, Breast Men, Bastard Out of Carolina, The Player, Short Cuts and Research Scientist.
Lyle played a detective in The Player, sheriff in The Opposite Of Sex and government agent in popular TV show Castle after being discovered by Robert Altman.
He was cast as research scientist in Breast Men and kept his hand in by scoring music for Dr T & The Women - saga of a Dallas gynaecologist - Toy Story, The Apostle and Hope Floats .
Lyle had a two-year wedding with Julia Roberts 1993-95 after meeting while filming The Player.
This week Lyle performs 12 th Of June - his 14th album title track - in the studio with his band.
CLICK HERE for a Lovett feature in The Diary on January 25, 2010.
CLICK HERE for Lyle's Hamer Hall concert review on March 26, 2010.
JOSHUA HEDLEY NEON BLUE
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Floridian fiddler Josh Hedley returns to our show after often touring here before the pandemic with Johnny Fritz and late Justin Townes Earle.
Hedley, 37, began on fiddle at eight and played Out On The Weekend festivals in Williamstown.
He made his name at Roberts Western World in Nashville as a sideman where he was known as the mayor of Lower Broad.
This week he performs second album title track Neon Blue video.
He also fronted Nu Country in his live video for Mr Juke Box - title track of his debut CD released in April, 2018, on Third Man Records - and appeared in 2015 documentary Heartworn Highways Revisited.
Hedley didn't start writing his own songs until he was 28 but his debut album featured one cover - When You Wish Upon a Star tribute to late father Richard, a Disney fan.
Joshua penned These Walls about FooBar - a beloved East Nashville dive Hedley lived near before it shut down.
His debut album originals included Counting All My Tears, Weird Thought Thinker, Let Them Talk, Let's Take a Vacation and Don't Waste Your Tears.
Further info - http://joshuahedley.com/
LUKE STEELE COMMON MAN
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Expat Kiwi and latter day Australian Luke Steele takes viewers on a stroll through snow and forests on a trip to Eccentric Farm in northern California.
The former Sleepy Jackson and Empire of The Sun singer supported underdogs in the dreamy video filmed by his wife Jodi at the height of a snowstorm.
Steele explores human frailty in his Common Man video - one of 14 tracks on debut solo album Listen To The Water.
Luke mourns loss of youth in Gladiator and comes to terms with grief in eerie Bullet Train.
"This solo record was a chance for me to be naked, fearless and on my own," Steele revealed.
“The crown is off, the make-up is off and this is where we find out what is left.”
Steele's videos directed by Jodi feature their daughter Sunny Tiger (13) and son Cruz (7) playing against glistening water and open fields.
“It was a bucolic contrast with the mess and the madness within the songs, this wrestling in my mind," Steele revealed.
“Our home in LA got infested with ants, the freezer shut down, lights were constantly flickering on and off and the message became clear.”
Further info - https://lukesteeleofficial.com/more-music/
CASEY BARNES FROM VAN DIEMANS LAND TO THE MCG
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Launceston born singer-songwriter-guitarist Casey Barnes shares his Van Diemen's Land hometown with manager and promoter Michael Chugg.
Casey, 43, headlined the annual March Yarra Park Country music festival with Blue Mountains born belle Imogen Clark.
He also sang Waltzing Matilda on the MCG main oval to launch the Geelong-Essendon game.
The Gold Coast resident ascended from 2009 American Idol finalist to international tourist and performer of Seven Network footy theme song Sparks Fly.
This week he performs his Get To Know Ya video from his sixth album Light It Up.
CLICK HERE for his Yarra Park concert review on March 19.
KIRSTY LEE AKERS OUTTA HERE
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Hunter Valley singer-songwriter and The Block TV show contestant Kirsty Lee Akers boomeranged after her grandmother's death while she was filming the Nine Network show.
Kirsty, 33, left the set for her nanna's funeral.
“I made it back home into my nan's driveway literally at the exact same time that the funeral home had arrived to pick her up,” Kirsty revealed.
Husband Jesse Anderson - who joined her on The Block - directed her Outta Here video from her sixth album Wild on her Rider Records.
The Kurri Kurri chanteuse chose Jesse as her male lead in previous Nu Country video For Love that she wrote about Jesse.
She released Wild in Tamworth in April after joining the Hands Of Fame.
"I am so incredibly proud of my new album Wild ,” Kirsty revealed of the disc featuring co-writers Phil Barton, Trey Bruce and Bruce Wallace.
“To see it at the top of the ARIA charts for 5 weeks running post-release just absolutely blows my mind. At the same time, I shouldn't be surprised, because I have the most loyal and supportive fans in the world. Many of my supporters have been with me since the very beginning. I had so much fun co-producing this album with my band members Dan Ebbels, Paul Bain, and Isaac Kennedy. We put our heart and soul into the record, and you can hear that every time you press play."
CLICK HERE for a Kirsty feature in The Diary on August 6, 2018.
WIN WAYLON, GEORGE JONES AND MERLE HAGGARD
Help us celebrate being Nu Country TV members and win albums by late Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Highwaymen by becoming a Nu Country member or renewing your membership.
George, Waylon, Merle and Willie Nelson were among country historian Barbara Dowling's favourite Texans.
The Waylon, Highwaymen , Merle and George discs were donated by Barbara who died at 77 in December, 2020.
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 79, and son Shooter, 43.
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 Achy Breaky Heart.
We have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing memberships.
They include Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Kip Moore and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.