DAVE'S DIARY - 10/9/2022 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 2 - SERIES 53
KENNY CHESNEY HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Tennessean star Kenny Chesney headlines Nu Country TV Wednesday September 14 at 8 pm with a powerful mini movie.
Fellow Tennessean Jessica Willis Fisher and Kentuckian Kelsey Waldon appear on the show repeated Saturdays at 11.30 pm.
Expat Kiwi Kaylee Bell and Canadian Lindsay Ell duet on the program filmed and edited by our multi-talented lockdown producer-host Laith Graham.
Triple Golden Guitarists The Bushwackers and Queensland singer-songwriter James Johnston boomerang this week with small town celebrations.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
CHESNEY FROM KNOXVILLE TO NASHVILLE
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Knoxville born star Kenny Chesney heads to the mountains and ocean to depict travels of a single senorita in his Nu Country TV return.
His Everyone She Knows mini movie follows a woman through redwood forests, coastal highways, the Grand Canyon , mountains and desert as she chases beauty and her heart.
"I have been surrounded by strong women who lead these lives on their own terms my whole life," Chesney, now 54, revealed.
"Nothing is more powerful or interesting than a woman who has a sense of her destiny and is willing to go chase it. It's not always conventional, but that's what makes their passion so much stronger. Whether it's my island friends, musicians like Grace Potter, several women on my team, they have a way of embracing life that's unlike anyone else, and I think that's awesome."
Kenny was raised in Luttrell near Knoxville before moving to Nashville.
Everyone She Knows is on his 21st album Here And Now - his 16 th Top Ten disc.
Chesney fronted Nu Country with the album title track penned with David Lee Murphy and features his Top 10 single Tip of My Tongue.
“I wrote two songs on this record,” Chesney admitted.
“I wrote We Do and then I wrote Tip of My Tongue with Ed Sheeran. Now I wrote four or five more that just didn't end up making the record, because maybe it had too many ballads or it just didn't fit or whatever. I like the record to have a flow, to have a certain energy. But it's different. The last record I put out - Songs for the Saints, 2018 was the hurricane relief record for Irma, which I wrote basically every song on. But that was a different kind of album. For this one I was writing a lot but the best song kind of always wins and sometimes I write the best song and sometimes I don't.”
CLICK HERE for a Kenny Chesney feature in The Diary on August 20, 2018.
KELSEY WALDON MORE THAN A MONKEY'S EYEBROW
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Kentucky chanteuse Kelsey Waldon honours her coal country roots in her return.
Kelsey hails from Monkey's Eyebrow in Loretta Lynn coal country in western Kentucky and worked on farms and tobacco fields before chasing music.
Sweet Little Girl is on her fifth album No Regular Dog that Shooter Jennings produced on the late John Prine's Oh Boy label.
It was released on August 12.
The Baptist belle sang and worshipped in a church where dogs pranced and parishioners danced with cigarettes well-lit in previous video Anyhow on her third album White Noise/White Lines she produced with Dan Knobler.
It followed self-released EPS and debut 2014 album The Goldmine and 2016 disc I've Got A Way on 30 Tigers.
Kelsey has her name etched on Monkey's Eyebrow town entry sign.
“As a Kentuckian, I grew up seeing signs like this all over my beloved home state - ‘Home Of' Merle Travis, Bill Monroe, Loretta Lynn, Keith Whitley, Ricky Skaggs, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless, Tom T Hall, all of Country Music Highway 23 and countless others,” Kelsey revealed.
“Add this to the list of proud moments. Thank-you Ballard County officials for making it happen. It means a lot.”
There's many theories on how the town got its curious name.
Ballard County is shaped like a monkey's head and Monkey's Eyebrow is where the eyebrow would be or that the shape of the town kind of looks like an eyebrow from a nearby hill or that the local general store back in the day was only considered good enough for “a bunch of monkeys” and the name stuck.
CLICK HERE for a Waldon CD feature in The Diary on February 10, 2020.
KAYLEE BELL AND LINDSAY ELL RAISE HELL
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Expat Kiwi Kaylee Bell and Canadian chanteuse Lindsay Ell return with a freedom anthem filmed in Bell 's homeland and Nashville.
Living Free is on Bell 's second album Silver Linings.
Kaylee gained TV fame when she performed her fellow expat Kiwi Keith Urban tribute on The Voice.
Bell , now 33, cut her song Keith for 2019 EP The Red after winning the 2013 Tamworth Starmaker quest.
She performed her #1 single We Were Us with Urban on his Light The Fuse Australian tour in 2014 and his 2016 Ripcord World Tour.
Bell is from Waimate on New Zealand 's south island and filmed previous Nu Country Wasted On You video outside Nashville .
She supported The Chicks on their 2017 world tour in New Zealand to 30,000 fans and spent ten years travelling to Nashville writing and perfecting her craft.
Her breakout song That's What I Call Crazy was followed by Getting Closer written with Morgan Evans.
Ell, also 33, is from Calgary , Alberta , released five albums and toured here in 2019 with Devin Dawson, Brandy Clark and fellow Canadian Tenille Townes.
Her horrific rape when she was just 13 inspired Make You penned with Clark.
"Three years ago at a visit to help launch the music program at Youth For Tomorrow, I sat down in a conference room with a few girls aged 12-18 who had all been victims of rape or sex trafficking,” Ell explained.
“I shared my story. They shared their stories, and I was so inspired. Walking out of that room that day I knew the time had come to share my story more widely. Otherwise I would be denying myself an opportunity to connect and help other girls or boys, like those in that room. It's a very difficult thing to do, but an incredibly necessary thing to talk about. We don't realize how much this stuff is happening in our own community, and that is partly due to not discussing it. I believe music has the power to heal.
"Once I decided it was time to share my story, there was specifically one co-writer who came to mind. I called Brandy, an absolute wordsmith and songwriter genius, and asked her if she would write this song with me. She fearlessly and immediately said yes. The day we wrote 'make you' I knew we had written something special that will hopefully help others to not feel alone in their survival. And more personally, it was finally the moment in my life where I got to validate that little girl inside - letting her know that I see her and I love her.'"
Ell launched Make You Movement charitable fund for organizations that support at-risk youth, domestic abuse and sexual assault survivors.
CLICK HERE for Ell's Athenaeum concert review in The Diary on March 23, 2019.
Further info - www.kayleebellmusic.com
JESSICA WILLIS FISHER TRIUMPS OVER SEXUAL ABUSE
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Nashville singer-songwriter Jessica Willis Fisher used her Fire Song as sweet solace for family abuse.
Jessica, 30 and one of 12 children, was lead singer-fiddler in the Willis Clan bluegrass band.
She wrote Fire Song about sexual abuse by fiddler father Toby who was jailed for 40 years for her rape in 2017.
Fire Song is one of ten songs she wrote on her debut solo album Brand New Day .
Grammy winner Jon Randall was her co-writer on Fire Song.
Further info - https://jessicawillisfisher.com/
THE BUSHWACKERS REVISIT HUNTER VALLEY
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Triple Golden Guitarists The Bushwackers celebrate 51 years in the saddle by honoring humble beginnings in our tiny towns double shot.
They filmed This Little Town video in Lorn near Maitland in the Hunter Valley.
It was where band stalwart Roger Corbett sourced the song that preceded latest album Leather Necks and Daggy Tales.
“The town is such a close knit community” Roger revealed, “the song just wrote itself, from all the great friendships, love and support we've had through our four years here. We all look out for one another and we're happy to take the time to have a chat and take life a little slower. This little town is jacarandas and walks in the afternoon.”
The 2021 Australasian Country Music Roll Of Renown inductees feature Dobe Newton - a band member when they first played Tamworth in 1981.
CLICK HERE for a Bushwackers CD review in The Diary on March 20, 2017.
JAMES JOHNSTON RETURNS TO GATTON
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James Johnston unearthed his roots in his small town when he filmed his bonfire party outside Gatton , Queensland.
James wrote it on a car trip home from the city to his family farm/
Johnston , 31, was raised on a 40-acre farm at Wingham near Manning River on NSW north coast.
Small Town follows Raised Like That and Country Boys.
James travelled with his dad as a tractor salesman-mechanic and debuted on stage at four with a Garth Brooks song
He came third on The Voice in 2008 before hitting our music road in his van and then Nashville
James has written more than 200 songs and played Today shows, rodeos and festivals.
Further info - https://jamesjohnston.com/
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 featuring 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.