DAVE'S DIARY - 19/6/07 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 3 - SERIES 8

JONI HARMS HOSTS NU COUNTRY TV

Oregon country singer and quarter horse breeder Joni Harms took time out from a hectic promo tour schedule to host Nu Country TV this Saturday - June 23 - on C 31.

The show airs at 8 p m and is repeated for insomniacs and shift workers on Thursday at 2 am.

That time slot will be familiar for listeners of the now defunct Nu Country FM when the late DJ Peter Cresp-Gerrard showcased Joni's music on his eclectic Music After Midnight show at Beer Can Hill.

Heather Rutherford - a fellow DJ - filmed Joni's hosting role at a Southgate café.

Harms, a former North West Rodeo Queen and mother of two, has released 10 stone country albums in a career dating back to her debut single I Need A Wife in 1989.

The singer filmed a new video clip for her single Cowboy Up at Widgee near Gympie in Queensland.

Harms made her Australian debut at the famous Gympie Muster in 2005.

Cowboy Up is from her ninth album Let's Put The Western Back In Country that was released on Texas label Wildcatter Records.

Joni and her band Harm's Way plan to expand their touring circuit from the U.S. and Europe to Australia with a summer sojourn.

Harms and her husband - operator of a lumberyard in Portland - also raise cattle and grow Christmas trees on their Canby family ranch that was homesteaded by her great, great grandfather in 1872.

The singer reveals in an interview with Nu Country TV she wrote songs with writers diverse as former Marshall Tucker Band member George McCorkle, Wood Newton, Jim Varsos, Kim Tribble, Cyril Rawson and Mentor Williams at the ranch.

CLICK HERE for a CD review of Harms in the Diary.

SUNNY SWEENEY DEBUT

Texan troubadour Sunny Sweeney debuts on Nu Country with a video clip of a song by Tim Carroll - singing spouse of Florida born country singer Elizabeth Cook.

Sweeney's version of If I Could is from her album Heartbreaker's Hall Of Fame that she will promote on an Australian tour in January.

The singer's visit, with acclaimed Oklahoma born country singer Becky Hobbs and Missouri raised Dallas Wayne, begins in Tamworth.

Sweeney wrote three songs on her album and also revamped The Next Big Nothing -penned by expatriate Tasmanian Audrey Auld Mezera.

Audrey recently moved from Bolinas in northern California to Nashville - home of Carroll and Cook whose new album Balls features two songs Cook wrote with yet another Australian singer-songwriter Melinda Schneider.

Sweeney originally released her album as an independent but it was picked up by Nashville label Big Machine - home of fellow Texan Jack Ingram.

CLICK HERE for a Sweeney feature from the Diary on April 25, 2007.

Further info - www.sunnysweeney.com

FELICITY RETURNS

Tamworth born singer-songwriter Felicity returns to Nu Country with a video of new song Throw Your Arms Around Me.

The song is from Felicity's acclaimed fifth indie album My Life, available on Shock Records.

Felicity shared writing with local artists Kevin Bennett, Sam Hawksley, John Kane and Chris Pelcer.

And she spread her wings on collaborations with major Nashville tunesmiths Dean Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Jennifer Kimball and Randy Scruggs.

Felicity, one time Nu Country TV host and regular lifestyle show presenter on Sydney Weekender, recently performed for Australian troops in the Solomon Islands.

The singer also toured the U.S. with Sydney western swing band Feral Swing Katz and opened shows for Waylon & Willie and The Pope in Australia.

CLICK HERE for a Felicity story from the Diary on June 26, 2003.

RUSTY RICH A SCARED WEIRD LITTLE GUY

Queensland born Rusty Rich is such a versatile performer he fronted two bands at the 31st Port Fairy folk festival.

He also presented regular bluegrass shows at Nu Country FM at Beer Can Hill and the salubrious studios at Harley House at the Paris, Texas, end of Collins St.

Rusty joined mother Noelene, sister Sherry and her husband Rick Plant in rare gigs by the Rich Family who released an album in 2003 that was on sale at Port Fairy.

Rare because Sherry lives in Nashville where Rick plays with artists diverse as Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris and Pure Prairie League.

And Noelene - who toured in the sixties with Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay - chooses warmer climes north of the famed Murray Dixon line.

This Rich family are not related to the former Lonestar singer and prolific writer John Rich whose duo Big & Rich topped U.S. charts last week on debut with its third CD Between Raising Hell and Amazing Grace.

But Rusty, revered for comedic duo Scared Weird Little Guys, is better known here on radio and TV as Rusty Berther with performing partner John Chaplin-Fleming.

The duo, whose first gig was July 17, 1990 at Hilton Comedy room in Melbourne, has since released three albums and three singles.

Rusty and DJ wife Denise Hylands - host of Twang on 3RRR-FM - provided us with a video of the duo's much requested Waltzing Matilda.

Further info - http://www.swlg.com.au/

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