DAVE'S DIARY - 21/3/2023 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 3 - SERIES 55
MITCH DEAN HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
Mornington Peninsular singer-songwriter Mitch Dean headlines Nu Country TV this Saturday March 25 at 7 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.
Dandenong Ranges singer-pianist tradie Benny Allan and Nashville bluegrass duo Calamity Jane return to the show repeated on Wednesday at 1 am.
Nu Country TV co-producer, camera man and editor Laith Graham, celebrating the birth of his third son, adds humour to his hosting with Texan satirist Steve Stewart's return.
Fellow Texan rancher Mark Powell and Nebraska born singer Shannon LaBrie appear this week.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
DEAN HOLDS BACK THE LEVEE
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Edithvale singer-songwriter Mitch Dean uses suffering of soldiers to drive his message in his video for the title track of his latest album Holding Back The Levee.
Mitch, 44 and father of two daughters, mines metaphors in his music and videos that he films and edits.
It's a metaphor, Dean confessed of his album title track featuring guest vocals from Kevin Bennett.
Someone holding onto a worry or a secret that kind of thing and not wanting to let it loose.
It may seem like a sibling of Let It Fall where a tree is used as a metaphor for creating something you lose control of.
It was not an intentional sibling song (great that you remembered that previous song of mine) but someone else has drawn that comparison as well. But yes, the tree is a metaphor for a relationship. Two people who let it grow too tall and maybe should have not nurtured it when they knew it wouldn't work.
Dean's previous video Face In A Long Line highlighted Dandemic repercussions and was filmed near Pura Milk factory at Chelsea Heights and nearby locked up factories.
Mitch filmed his In The Stream video as he rode his bike around the streets of Edithvale.
He depicted how modern technology has changed our music delivery stream and lamented how many modern males and females never experienced the golden days of vinyl now making a comeback.
Dean also recorded albums and videos with The Distance.
CLICK HERE for our Mitch CD feature in The Diary on July 7, 2020.
BENNY ALLEN GETS ANIMATED WITH LADY LUCK
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Dandenong Ranges singer-songwriter-pianist and tradie became animated as he filmed his latest video Lady Luck And Me.
Allen ignited his bluegrass belter with humorous imagery despite being unable to tour during our Dandemic.
The song is one of several highlights of Allen's debut album Never Knew I Was Country.
Allen visited the Hunter Valley and New England towns Tamworth, Moonbi and Walcha in previous video Places I've Never Been.
It's so great to see people embracing new Australian music, Benny revealed of his travels before the borders closed during lockdown.
I've been getting out and about in Victoria and getting out to towns I haven't been to before and meeting all these fantastic people.
Benny won most popular balladeer and album at 2020 Independent Country Music Awards and best video at Australian Country Music People's Choice Awards.
Further info - https://www.bennyallen.rocks/
MARK POWELL TEXAS PROJECT
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West Texas rancher and singer-songwriter Mark Powell swapped his steeds and bikes for a mobile home in his Nu Country debut.
The Abilene artist's lead male became a Good Samaritan when he fixed a blonde belle's broken down car in his Project video.
It's his fifth Texas hit on his fifth album Breaking Things that also features This Bar Needs a Town and Second-Hand Smoke.
Project is a tongue-in-cheek look at a man taking on the role of a "project" in a new relationship where his girlfriend gives him a place to stay while she tries to help him get his life together.
Powell and wife of 17 years Meredith have three children Ella, 15, Hayden, 14, and Macy, 12.
Mark tours with family band Lariat he formed with brother John after fiddler father Bishop taught them about strings and things.
They toured with artists diverse as late Merle Haggard, Mac Davis, Johnny Gimble, Texas Playboys , Tracy Byrd, Johnny Lee, Tommy Overstreet, Johnny Bush, Pat Flynn, Western Flyer , Lionel Cartwright, Red Steagall, Doug Supernaw, Cooder Graw , Jake Hooker, Darrell McCall, Curtis Potter, Asleep at the Wheel and Michael Martin Murphey.
Their first CD Overdue (2003) featured hits Mexican Honeymoon and Doublewide Dreaming in Texas .
Powell combines music with ranching where he has a diverse range of livestock.
He has two buffalos named Lavern and Shirley and five Longhorns titled Cletus, Sugar Rush, Wendy Kay, Eliza and Ginger.
His chickens also have memorable names - Oprah and Beyonce .
Further info - http://markpowellmusic.com/
STEVE STEWART LAWYERS, GUNS AND MONEY
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Nu Country TV host Laith Graham adds more humour to his extended hosting role with a little help from Texan singer-songwriter-satirist Steve Stewart.
The Dallas artist finishes up in prison in his return to Behind Bars with his oft recorded tune I Wanted To Be A Lawyer But I Could Never Pass The Bar.
It was not a fate suffered by show host Laith - his dad is a retired country police officer who enforced the law.
Steve is a regular guest on Behind Bars with his recent topical hits Coronaville, Take This Mask And Shove It and Social Distancing with brother Don.
Stewart is a veteran singer-songwriter-musician-producer-arranger and mentor.
He plays over 150 shows each year at venues diverse as Billy Bob's Texas in Fort Worth and Grizzly Rose in Denver , NASCAR races, fairs and rodeos.
Further info - https://stevestewartmusic.com/
CALAMITY JANE ENJOY THE CHASE
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Nashville duo Calamity Jane fiddle and sing in the green and bluegrass of their home state in their return.
Violinist Lucy Cantley and singer Camille Rae traded vocals and strings high in the hills near stables and homesteads in their video for their second hit The Chase.
Lucy wrote The Chase after driving from Virginia to her Nashville home.
I wrote the song when I was driving from Virginia back to Nashville , Lucy revealed.
It was a ten hour drive, I left home and said goodbye to my fiancé and my family. I was feeling torn between the two worlds I was living in. The world of my career and pursuing dreams, the other being home in my comfort zone. I was thinking about all these things and the song unfolded.
Calamity Jane debuted on Nu Country with an energised cut of famed 1979 Charlie Daniels hit The Devil Went Down To Georgia.
It becomes a posthumous tribute to Charlie who died at 83 on July 6, 2020, in Hermitage, Tennessee, from a hemorrhagic stroke.
Lucy fronted the Troika band before joining singer Camille, originally from Mount Vernon , Kentucky , moved to Nashville in 2012.
Her song I Need Me hit #26 on Music Row charts - in a previous band Cantley and Rae won the Nash Next 2018.
Calamity Jane toured with Maddie & Tae , Travis Denning, Easton Corbin, Keith Anderson, recently deceased Joe Diffie and others.
Further info - https://www.calamityjaneofficial.com/
SHANNON LABRIE NEBRASKA TO NASHVILLE
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Shannon Labrie ignites a forest in her Nu Country TV debut in her Firewalker video.
She grew up on a farm near Lincoln, Nebraska, where her dad taught her guitar before he died when she was just 13.
Shannon overcame grief by writing songs and later went to Nashville and wrote hits for peers.
Firewalker is on her third album Building , produced by multi-Grammy winners Brent Maher and Charles Yingling at Blue Room Studio, Nashville.
She wrote the title track with Tia Sellers and Joe Robinson after tornadoes hit her home in 2019.
I was in the fire, so to speak, Shannon revealed of the day she met her co-writers.
We were in the thick of it, but we weren't broken yet. Now I realise we were being born into unbreakable Firewalkers.
She filmed the video during the Dandemic with a crew of two, herself and famed music video director Roger Pistole in the backwoods of Tennessee.
Shannon says her songwriting was a journey to self-discovery and reflection with songs about finding strength in pain and spiritual guidance.
I can't think of a better word to describe this thing we call life than the word building, she says of the title track - one of six songs she wrote.
Further info - https://www.shannonlabrie.com/
WIN WAYLON, GEORGE JONES AND MERLE HAGGARD
We need your support in Nu Country TV's 55th series with Australian record companies and major artists teaming to ensure our survival.
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.