DAVE'S DIARY - 7 MAY 2024 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 10 - SERIES 59
DOLLY PARTON AND ZACH WILLIAMS HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV
Singer-songwriter-actor Dolly Parton and Christian singer Zach Williams salute higher beings when they headline Nu Country TV at 6.30 pm on Saturday May 11.
Fellow Louisiana singing actor Trace Adkins and Tennessean singer-songwriter Craig Morgan appear in Behind Bars on the show filmed and produced by Laith Graham and repeated Saturday at 2.30 am.
Californian Jon Pardi and Georgian Luke Bryan join rodeo riders and ranchers with their horses and cattle when they boomerang to our program.
Florida Georgia Line co-founder and escapee Brian Kelley, Alabama outlaw Trey Lewis and Tamworth teenager Lane Pitman also return this week.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
This series is dedicated to late Nu Country TV host and treasurer Mid-Pacific Bob Olson and Vice President Rod Browne.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
DOLLY AND ZACH BIBLICAL UNION
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Tennessean superstar Dolly Parton and Florida Christian singer-songwriter Zach Williams boomerang to Nu Country with their second biblical collaboration Looking For You from his fifth album A Hundred Highways.
Zach, 45, previously fronted our show with Dolly, aged 78, with There Was Jesus when he played a Good Samaritan picking up homeless passengers on the lost highway in his bus and taking them to his Baptist tent revival show.
Williams released albums with his Christian bands Brothers of Grace and The Reformation for a decade before his solo career in 2016 and fronting our show with oft recorded 1865 spiritual Go Tell It On The Mountain at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Zach was born in Pensacola , Florida , grew up in Jonesboro , Arkansas , and released first solo single Chain Breaker in 2016 - title track of his five song EP and 2017 album.
He led worship at Refuge Campus Of Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro from 2014-2017.
Zach debuted on Nu Country with Dolly Parton with There Was Jesus - on his fourth solo album Rescue Story.
Further info - https://www.zachwilliamsmusic.com/
Dolly's colourful career peaks on October 1 when she honours her French bulldog Billy in Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas - sequel to her picture book Billy the Kid Makes It Big from Penguin Young Readers.
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Dolly's previous children's books include Coat Of Many Colors (1994) and I Am A Rainbow (2009).
She recently released her 39 track Rock Star Deluxe Album after new book Between The Seams - My Life in Rhinestones on October 17, 2023.
Dolly is promoting her Doggy Parton Pet Collection - apparel, accessories, and toys - and her Smoky Mountains Eau De Parfum and Front Port Collection at Walmart.
Click Here for a previous Dolly feature in The Diary on June 17, 2019.
TRACE ADKINS AND CRAIG MORGAN DUET
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Louisiana born singer actor Trace Adkins and Tennessean singing soldier Craig Morgan boomerang to our show with their new duet That Ain't Gonna Be Me.
Adkins, now 62, has starred in more than 24 movies and telemovies including The Lincoln Lawyer, Hickock, Traded, Stagecoach: The Texas Jack Story, An American Carol, Bennett's War and The Virginian.
Trace proved a master of ruptured romance in his previous Nu Country videos Heartbreak Song one of 25 songs on his 13th album The Way I Want To Go - Empty Chair and Ain't That Kind Of Cowboy.
Trace's 25 song album features Blake Shelton, Luke Bryan, Pitbull, Melissa Etheridge, Keb Mo , Snoop Dogg and Stevie Wonder on songs including Jesus Was A Hippie.
He has also released 16 solo albums.
CLICK HERE for an historic CD review in The Diary on July 6, 2009
Morgan, 59, released 10 albums since 2000 - his latest are God Family Country and Enlisted.
Craig married wife Karen with whom he has five children - daughters Marisa and Alexandra and sons Kyle, Jerry, and Wyatt.
In February 2011 Morgan rescued two young children from a burning house in Dickson , Tennessee , and put out the fire using a fire hose.
On July 10, 2016, his son Jerry Greer went missing after falling off an inner tube in Kentucky Lake on the Tennessee River . His body was recovered one day later. He was 19 years old.
Craig served on active duty for nine and a half years in the US Army as a member of the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions and remained in the reserves for another six and a half years.
He took part in U.S. Invasion of Panama in 1989 and re-enlisted in US Army Reserve on stage at the Grand Ole Opry .
Further info - https://www.craigmorgan.com/welcome
JON PARDI AND LUKE BRYAN COWBOYS AND PLOUGHBOYS
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Californian Jon Pardi and Georgian Luke Bryan join rodeo riders and ranchers with their horses and cattle in their return to our show.
Pardi, 38, toured here in 2019 with Brett Eldredge and Bryan, 47, also toured here several times.
Jon proposed to wife Summer Duncan on stage at the hallowed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
The couple wed on November 21, 2020, and have two children - a daughter and son.
Pardi played Melbourne Forum when he toured in April and May in 2019 with Eldredge who hails from Paris , Illinois .
Jon also fronted Nu Country with his videos Last Night Lonely, Ain't It Always The Cowboy, Heartache Medication and Thomas Rhett on Beer Can't Fix from Rhett's fourth album Centrepoint Road.
Pardi borrowed imagery from the Hud movie to drive messages for She Ain't In It video from second album California released in 2016.
Cowboys and Plowboys will be on Pardi's sixth album out this year.
Further info - http://www.jonpardi.com/welcome.html
LUKE BRYAN JOEYS PRESENTS TO WIFE
Luke Bryan gave his wife Caroline two kangaroo joeys for Christmas on the eve of his debut tour as 2018 CMC Rocks Queensland festival headliner at Willowbank in Ipswich.
Bryan filmed Caroline putting on a blindfold on Christmas Day while he brought her gift into the room.
He told her he was bringing designer purses but the bag on her lap had two baby marsupials.
The Roos live in Brett's Barn on their farm, named after their niece Sadie Brett who died, aged seven months, of liver and heart disease and Downs Syndrome.
They were named Margo and Todd after yuppie neighbour on National Lampoon Christmas Vacation and share the barn with other pets.
But the Joeys didn't join Luke when he played Rod Laver Arena with Tennessean Dustin Lynch.
Instead Bryan saved Build Me A Daddy for his seventh album Born Here, Live Here, Die Here.
CLICK HERE for a Luke Bryan feature in The Diary on June 3, 2012.
BRIAN KELLEY BOOT KISSING SATIRE
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Florida Georgia Line co-founder and escapee Brian Kelley takes no prisoners in his latest video.
Kelley, now 38, kicked a former friend out of the park with snakes & hisses - not kisses.
Kiss My Boots is on his second solo album Tennessee Truth released on May 10.
Brian made five albums with Florida Georgia Line who have toured here several times.
He rode bikes and boats in his role as beach cowboy in previous Nu Country Highway On the Water video from solo debut disc Sunshine State Of Mind , released June 25, 2021.
Kelley's collaborator Ben Christensen stars in and directs the video captured on location in home base Phoenix.
Ben directed Songs For You featuring Kelley and wife Brittney and local couples they met exploring Grayton Beach , Florida .
It's one of six songs featuring his Wave Pack band - Made By The Water, Party On The Beach, Beach Cowboy, Sunday Service In The Sand and Songs For You.
Florida Georgia Line released their fifth album Life Rolls On in February, 2021.
CLICK HERE for Florida Georgia Line feature in The Diary on March 26, 2019.
Further info - https://www.officialbriankelley.com/
TREY LEWIS TROUBLEMAKER
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Alabama outlaw singer-songwriter Lewis, now 37, hits the road on his second album title track Troublemaker.
Lewis dug into his life for diverse songs - he had plenty of material after being in rehab for alcohol abuse.
His femme fatale awoke from a heavy night in his previous Nu Country video Pretty Hungover.
I've been a troublemaker my whole life. This is a batch of songs that speaks to me and I hope there is something for everyone to relate to here, Lewis revealed.
We all start off in different places in life and struggle is real, but so is victory and love. I am grateful for our team and their efforts to make this the best album it can be.
Lewis scored his first major-label single as songwriter with Cole Swindell's Three Feet Tall - about personal experience of how Lewis's parents' divorce affected him as a young boy.
Troublemaker followed his infamous hit Dicked Down In Dallas .
Further info - https://treylewismusic.com/
LANE PITTMAN COUNTRY TOWN HERO
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Tamworth teenager Lane Pittman returns to our show after scoring support roles at the age of 17 on North Carolina superstar Luke Combs 2023 Australian tour.
Combs booked him when 16-year-old school student wowed audiences with cover of Luke's Even Though I'm Leaving audition for The Voice Australia 2022.
Lane signed a management and record deal with Michael Chugg Music and released debut single Love In A Country Town - penned by Neil Mason from The Cadillac Three , Ryan Hurd and Aaron Eshuis.
We feature Love In A Country Town video this week.
Love in A Country Town feels like a fresh start for me, Pittman revealed.
It's the launch of this new chapter and I think it really reflects that. This song is all about falling in love, which I did from the second I heard it. I really hope people enjoy it and love it just as much as I do!
Love In A Country Town is on his six track self-titled EP.
Further info - https://www.lanepittmanofficial.com/
Click Here for our live review of Lane on the Luke Combs tour in our concert section.
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 80, and son Shooter, 44.
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.