DAVE'S DIARY - 14/3/2023 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 2 - SERIES 55
THE CHICKS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Nu Country TV producer Laith Graham is taking well deserved paternity leave for the birth of his third son so we celebrate with the return of Texan trio The Chicks who headline Nu Country TV this Saturday March 18 at 7 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.
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Singer-songwriter Mo Pitney also returns to the show, one of several highlights of Laith's hosting during the pandemic, repeated on Wednesday at 1 am.
Laith adds humour in his hosting role by showcasing a Texas chili cook-off by Octogenarian singer-actor comedian Ray Stevens.
Texan singing crime novelist Kinky Friedman also returns with a metaphoric weather report.
Melbourne singer-songwriters Michael Meeking and Mitch Dean appear with videos filmed before lockdown in our suburbs.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
NATALIE NIGHTMARE FOR ACTOR
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Texan trio The Chicks cut the Dixie from their name after lead singer Natalie Maines eliminated her second former husband - actor Adrian Pasdar - from her life.
Maines exorcised Pasdar in several songs on The Chicks 10th studio album Gaslighter.
The trio detail the not so delicate debris of adultery and by-products for all participants and the damage to the sons of the soiled in their Sleep At Night video.
Maines, now 48 and mother of two sons, depicts a cheater bringing his lover to a concert at the Hollywood Bowl and a reported conversation between the new belle and old flame after the gig.
Ironically Pasdar played a police officer in The Chicks video for their hit Goodbye Earl on their fifth album Fly.
The Dennis Linde penned smash depicted a battered bride whose pals poison her abusive ex-husband with black eyed peas.
The Chicks dispose of Earl's body in a tarpaulin in the clip that won 2000 Academy of Country Music and Country Music Association Video of the Year Awards.
The 13-time Grammy winning Chicks recording hiatus was punctuated by two Court-Yard Hounds albums - a self-titled 2010 disc and 2013 sequel Amelita - by Chicks sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, nee Erwin.
Maines also released a solo album Mother in 2013.
Sleep At Night is one of many highlights on Gaslighter that stormed charts on release.
CLICK HERE for our Chicks CD feature in The Diary on August 31, 2020.
MO PITNEY AIN'T BAD FOR A GOOD OLD BOY
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Illinois born minstrel Mo Pitney returns with an autobiographical slice of his life in isolation.
Mo, 29 and a new husband, spoke from experience in his previous Mattress On The Floor video that features a blue-collar couple struggling to make ends meet.
This time his life is vividly illustrated in new single Ain't Bad For A Good Old Boy.
Mo and singing spouse Emily of The Bankesters bluegrass band, wed in March, 2016, in her home town Carbondale before welcoming daughter Evelyne.
The video, directed by Nathaniel Maddux, features Mo Pitney with Emily and their kids at the house Mo is building for them.
“I can tell you I don't deserve either my wife or this new baby, and I've experienced unconditional love like I've never before,” Pitney revealed.
“Being a dad has helped me realise how much responsibility I have in front of me and recognize even more so my need for God's help in being father and husband.”
Ain't Bad For A Good Old Boy is on Mo's second album Ain't Looking Back.
Mo's 13 track disc also features outlaw Jamey Johnson.
CLICK HERE for a Mo feature in The Diary on November 21, 2016.
KINKY FRIEDMAN LOVE IN THE TEXAS RAIN
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Singing Texan crime novelist Kinky Friedman describes how his love life fires up when it rains in his video I Love You When It Rains.
He filmed it at his Echo Hills ranch home at Medina near Kerrville in Texas hill country where he has written many of his 30 books and novels.
The Kinkster was joined by his Texas Jewboys band and late fellow Texan Billy Joe Shaver on several headline grabbing tours.
Sadly Kinky, aged 78, won't tour here again soon.
I Love You When It Rains is on his Kinky's Larry Campbell produced 18th album Resurrection that also features fellow Texan singing actor Willie Nelson, now 89, and 11 new original songs.
The Kinkster wrote Road-Kill - one of his 27 crime novels - about murders on and near Willie's famed bus Honeysuckle Rose.
CLICK HERE for a Kinky Friedman interview in The Diary on May 18, 2011.
CLICK HERE for a Kinky CD review in The Diary on November 30, 2015.
RAY STEVENS RED HOT CHILI COOK-OFF
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Our host-camera man and editor Laith Graham missed trips to Mid Pacific Bob Olson's kitchen in the Beer Can Hill delta so much he settled for an isolation feed of sorts.
Instead of sampling expat Californian Bob's cuisine he discovered octogenarian Ray Stevens hosting a Red-Hot Chili Cook off in Kinky's home state Texas.
The vivid video message is clear - when you are aged 81 it is not wise to judge Texan chili cook offs.
Stevens featured frequently in our isolation series with videos for The Streak, Quarantined, Grandpa Voted Democrat and Taylor Swift Is Stalking Me.
Dual Grammy winner Ray fell from a camel on St Kilda Beach while promoting a previous hit Ahab The Arab.
Stevens has released more than 100 albums in his recording career that began in 1957.
His satiric hits include Osama, Yo' Mama, Sitting Up With The Dead, The Streaker, The Mississippi Squirrel Revival, Shriners Convention and Ahab The Arab.
Further info - https://raystevens.com/
MICHAEL MEEKING SEEKING - NOT STREAKING
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Bob Olson's Northcote neighbour - singer-songwriter Michal Meeking - returns with his song of hope.
Meeking proved there was light at the end of the Dandemic tunnel in his video for Lonesome, Good times Will Come Again.
The song is one of many highlights on Michael's fourth album November 72 that came out in August 2018.
His fifth album The Night Air will be launched on Saturday March 25 at the Union Hotel, Brunswick.
Meeking grew up in Upper Beaconsfield before moving to London for six years in his late twenties.
He debuted on Nu Country on a magical mystery tour of favourite locales in his previous video Where You Going To.
Meeking filmed and directed his provocative and scenic musical journey, riddled with riveting reflections, at locales diverse as Mansfield , Lake Eildon , Sorrento back beach, Blairgowrie and others.
He ploughs seventies nostalgia on his album exploratory entrée Great Unknown , driven by freedom desires despite lost highway hurdles.
Further info - https://www.michaelmeeking.com/
MITCH DEAN PEDALS MEAN STREETS OF EDITHVALE
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Mornington Peninsula singer-songwriter Mitch Dean cycled past the Edithvale Velodrome to peddle his message in his In The Stream video.
Mitch sang of how modern technology has changed our music delivery stream.
He lamented how many modern males and females never experienced the golden days of vinyl that is now making a welcome return.
The techno trap reduced leisure time outdoors - especially in the dire Dandemic.
So Mitch mounted up in Edithvale before he had to mask up on his trip around Edithvale landmarks including Bayside Avenue.
In The Stream is on Mitch's new album Holding Back The Levee.
It also features previous video Face In A Long Line filmed near the Pura Milk factory at Chelsea Heights and nearby locked up factories.
CLICK HERE for our Mitch CD feature in The Diary on July 7, 2020.
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.
We also have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12th album The Speed Of Now - Part 1, 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 many major artists you can win by becoming Nu Country TV members 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.