DAVE'S DIARY - 11 JULY 2023 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 7 - SERIES 56
LUKE COMBS AND VINCE GILL HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
North Carolina born nouveau outlaw-chart topper Luke Combs and Oklahoma bred 22 time Grammy winner-singer-songwriter Vince Gill headline N u Country TV at 6.30 pm on Saturday July 15.
Kiewa Valley export Greta Ziller and NSW cattle and sheep farmer-singer-songwriter Josie Laver boomerang to the show repeated Thursday at 1 am.
Georgian rappers The Lacs and Canadian band Hillside Outlaws debut on 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/
LUKE GETTING ACCLAIM NOT OLD
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Luke Combs returns to our show with a studio version of a recent hit from his fourth album Getting Old, released in March.
Luke, now 33, played the historic St Kilda Palais on his 2019 Australian tour with Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde.
Combs broke sales records with his first three albums and released deluxe versions of his first two albums and duets with artists diverse as fellow North Carolina star Eric Church, Texan Miranda Lambert, bluegrass ace Billy Strings and Brooks & Dunn.
Luke joins expat Australasian superstar Keith Urban by writing songs for a wife named Nicole whom he married on a southern Florida beach.
Nicole inspired many songs including Loving On You for Luke who filmed live videos for topical Six Feet Apart and Eric Church on their duet Does To Me and recently gave birth to their son Tex.
Luke recently topped Billboard charts with recent singles Love You Anyway and Fast Car - originally a hit for Tracy Chapman.
Another Nu Country TV guest - Amanda Shires - joined him on Without You with his trio during isolation.
His debut deluxe disc This One's For You 2 was #1 for 44 weeks on Billboard and broke Randy Travis's record for Always and Forever that was #1 for 43 non-consecutive weeks in 1987-1988.
He became first artist to have their first two studio albums spend 25 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard - breaking Taylor Swift's record of 24 weeks.
Combs charted five tracks from The Prequel on Billboard Top 25 in 2019 - a feat not accomplished since Johnny Cash in 1959.
He recorded Let's Just Be Friends for The Angry Birds Movie 2.
CLICK HERE for Luke's What You See Is What You Get CD feature in The Diary on November 25, 2019.
VINCE GILL HONOURS OKLAHOMA ROOTS
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Vince Gill returns to our show with a new version of his 2003 hit Some Day from his 17th album Okie.
Vince, now 66 and son of a late judge, first toured Australia in the eighties with Byron Berline in Sundance and on his second tour duet partner of hotshot English guitarist Albert Lee.
Gill also fronted Nu Country with his ode to fellow Oklahoma raised legend Merle Haggard who died on April 6, 2016 - his 79th birthday.
Vince and pedal steel guitarist Paul Franklin had a captive audience in their live duet on Lost In A World Without Merle Haggard from Vince's 15th studio album Okie.
CLICK HERE for a Vince Gill feature in The Diary on August 2, 2005.
GRETTA ZILLER DRIVES TRAMS WITH HER MUSIC
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Kiewa Valley export provides some joy for tram travellers on her return to our show.
She led the singing and dancing on the Route 72 tram between Camberwell in the Melbourne eastern suburbs and the city as she performed Ain't Even Your Lover that she wrote with Oscar Dawson.
Gretta began her career as an opera singer and bagpipe teacher and founded old-time bluegrass band Orange Blossom.
Gretta, a 2011 Academy Of Country Music graduate, grew up in Thologolong near Wodonga in Upper Murray.
She dabbled in musical theatre after learning violin, cello, double bass and bagpipes and was Pipe Band Coordinator at Scots School Albury where she studied from 2004-2010.
Ziller headed to Melbourne and graduated with a Bachelor-Degree in Voice that landed her in the Trinity College Choir (2000-2002).
But her biggest crowd was singing with Johnny Farnham at the 2009 AFL Grand Final.
It was the year Geelong won its 8th flag despite Harry Taylor breaking his hand.
Ain't Even Your Lover is on her second album Judas Tree that is followed by third album All These Walls out on August 25.
Ziller is touring nationally to promote the album before returning to Nashville.
Gretta performed live at Curtin room, Carlton , with Berwick dual Golden Guitarist Andrew Swift on her previous Nu Country TV video Go On from her debut disc Queen Of Boomtown .
She showcased her Celtic and German heritage in her candle lit video Hunt For Love where she was accompanied by her dog and horse in the song on her five track EP Hell's Half Acre named after her trip to Alberta , Canada .
Further info - http://grettaziller.com/
JOSIE LAVER SEES RED IN HER CROPS AND MUSIC
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Josie Laver runs sheep and cattle on her family farm in the southern NSW high plains near Boorowa when she is not on the road showcasing her music.
At night she sings, plays guitar and composes songs.
This week she performs her Seeing Red video of a song she wrote with expat Kiwi Matt Joe Gow for her new album Ride This Lullabye.
Josie also appeared on our show with Gow on Little Blonde Devil .
She previously fronted Nu Country with her evocative Tangles video about feelings of low self-esteem, damage or trauma and pushing those feelings aside just for the night and enjoying the future.
The Andrew Barnes directed video in the high plains illustrates a highlight of her Gow produced debut album.
Josie has also released a video for Mustang - a tale about escaping on a shadow black mustang on the dangerous roads she calls home.
Further info - https://www.facebook.com/laverjosephine
THE LACS HELLRAISERS IN HEAVEN
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B4 that Georgian country rappers The Lacs prove why they are hell-raisers on their Nu Country debut.
Clay Sharpe, Brian King and Alabama singer and songwriter Murphy Elmore take us on a trip as they rode through paddocks and honky-tonks on their Hellraisers In Heaven video.
The trio also did a little fishing before visiting a church for redemption.
Hellraisers In Heaven follows 14 albums and is on their own indie label Dirt Rock Empire.
They have since released Great Minds Drink Alike with hit maker Craig Campbell that followed Dirt Road Dollars with Nate Kenyon and 2010 single Kicking Up Mud.
The Lacs recorded six albums for Backroad Records subsidiary of Average Joes Entertainment - independent label co-owned by fellow country rap artist Colt Ford.
Four albums hit Billboard 200: Keep it Redneck (2013), Outlaw in Me and American Rebelution (2017).
The Lacs headlined their 10th annual LACFEST 3-day music festival in Blackshear , Georgia from June 9-11 at Moccasin Creek Offroad Park featuring The Lacs , Struggle Jennings, Craig Campbell, Jesse Keith Whitley, Chris Taylor, Dustin Spears and more.
Further info - https://thelacs.net/
HILLSIDE OUTLAWS RAISE HELL IN CALGARY
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Canadian band Hillside Outlaws debut on our show with a rollicking live show.
The British Columbians were on the road again performing We Got Tonight at Ranchman's honky tonk in Calgary.
We Got Tonight is on their new album that follows Beer Is Essential & Something.
The band is keen to write a new song with our show headliner Luke Combs.
“We would love to get in a room and write with Luke Combs,” band leader Louis Bigras revealed. “That man is brilliant. He's a modern day outlaw and his work is pure genius.”
Further info - https://www.beerisessential.ca/
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, Carrie Underwood and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.