DAVE'S DIARY - 5/10/2015 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 6 - SERIES 28

AUDREY AULD POSTHUMOUS NU COUNTRY TV HEADLINER

We celebrate the short life and deep humanitarian work of late Tasmanian born singer-songwriter Audrey Auld on Nu Country TV this Saturday October 10 at 10.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.

Audrey, popular guest on our TV show and former radio station Nu Country FM , died of cancer at 51 in August in her adoptive Californian home.

Texan Miranda Lambert returns to the show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm, Wednesday 7.30 am and Thursday 3 am.

Popular bluegrass artists The Steeldrivers and Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers return to Behind Bars on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

Gladstone singer Hayley Marsten and expat South London singer-songwriter Mark Lucas, who now calls Sydney home, make their Nu Country TV debuts.

Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.

Just follow this link on your computer or mobile phone –

http://www.c31.org.au/program/view/program/nu-country-tv

AUDREY POURS POEM INTO SONG

The late Hobart born singer-songwriter Audrey Auld spent the twilight of her colourful life doing what she enjoyed most - helping the victims of life's circumstances.

She worked for more than a decade running song-writing workshops for prisoners at the famed San Quentin prison in California.

Merle Haggard, now 78, spent his 21 st birthday in San Quentin where he caught the late Johnny Cash in concert.

Audrey's altruism was part of the Bread And Roses campaign established by late singer-songwriter Mimi Farina - youngest sister of recent Australian tourist Joan Baez - in 1974.

Audrey performs her live video of I Am Not What I Have Done that she adapted from a poem penned by one of her prisoner students.

It's on her 12th album Hey Warden on her own Reckless Records label.

Audrey was an enthusiastic teacher and mentor for Bread and Roses - the non-profit co-operative organisation designed to bring free music and entertainment to institutions: jails, hospitals, juvenile facilities, nursing homes, and prisons.

It was initially active in the San Francisco Bay area but later a nation organisation.

Mimi, third of three daughters of Mexican-American physicist, Albert Baez, made her debut with Richard Farina whom she wed at 18 in Paris and made two influential folk albums.

After Richard's 1966 death (on Mimi's twenty-first birthday) in a motorcycle accident, she remarried and toured with sister Joan and Tom Jans and wrote songs

But, like her protégé Auld, she died of cancer at 56 in Mill Valley, California, on July 18, 2001.

CLICK HERE for an Audrey interview in The Diary on April 11, 2011.

MIRANDA LAMBERT CAUSE FOR THE PAWS

Fellow humanitarian and Texan singer-songwriter Miranda Lambert returns with a song that has belatedly become another case of art imitating life.

Lambert performs in the video for Mama's Broken Heart just three months after her divorce from Oklahoma star Blake Shelton, now 39.

Miranda wrote the song with fellow Texan Kacey Musgraves for her fifth album Four The Record.

Lambert, 31, drowned her sorrows with Pistol Annies pal Ashley Monroe on a recent night on the town.

She also hosted her Mutt Nation Foundation's eighth Cause for the Paws: Back to Basics weekend in Luckenbach - 75 miles west of Austin - on September 18 and 19.

The weekend canine fund raiser featured a barn dance, wine tasting, brunch, dinners, cocktails and live music from fellow songwriters Jessi Alexander, Jon Randall and Radney Foster.

The proceeds - including a Hank Williams Pain package for $1,000 - went to Cause for the Paws and Mutt Nation Foundation that has raised $2.1 million - to help end animal cruelty, neglect and homelessness throughout the U.S. with support shelters and taking care of emergency puppy mill rescues.

CLICK HERE for a Miranda feature in the Diary on June 23, 2014.

STEEL DRIVERS LIVE IN TEXAS

Veteran bluegrass band the Steel Drivers perform live at one of the famed Threadgills venues in Austin, Texas, in Behind Bars.

Their tune If It Hadn't Been For Love is on their third album Hammer Down.

Members include fiddler Tammy Rogers, bassist Mike Fleming, guitarist Gary Nichols and banjoist Richard Bailey They recorded two albums on Rounder Records and an independent live album recorded at The Station Inn .

Prolific singer-songwriter-guitarist Chris Stapleton was with the band when it was nominated for a Grammy award in 2009 for Best Country Performance by Duo or Group with Vocals for Blue Side of the Mountain .

In 2010, the group received two nominations for its second album, Reckless , before Stapleton left the band and was replaced by former Mercury Records artist Gary Nichols on lead vocals and guitar.

In December, 2011 co-founder Mike Henderson left and was replaced by Nashville musician-record producer Brent Truitt.

The band recently recorded fourth album The Muscle Shoals Sessions.

Further info - http://www.thesteeldrivers.com/

STEVE MARTIN, EDIE BRICKELL AND STEEP CANYON RANGERS

Quintuple Grammy winner Steve Martin returns to Behind Bars with fellow award winners Edie Brickell and their band The Steep Canyon Rangers.

They perform The Sun Is Gonna Shine Again live in California.

They also featured humorous murder mystery ballad Pretty Little One and Atheists Don't Have No Songs on our previous shows.

We eagerly await a new video for Waco born Steve's song about the chatty masseuse.

Martin, 70, has appeared in 52 movies, more than 100 TV shows and writes screenplays and books when not performing with Steep Canyon Rangers.

In 1978 and 1979 he won comedy Grammys with albums Let's Get Small and A Wild and Crazy Guy and in 2001 he won best country instrumental with an all-star rendition of Foggy Mountain Breakdown.

Banjo virtuoso Steve shared it with musical icon, Earl Scruggs, Scruggs' sons and Jerry Douglas, Vince Gill and more A-list collaborators.

Martin's comedy thrived as The Crow: New Songs for the Five-String Banjo won 2009 award for best bluegrass recording.

This year he's the voice of Captain Smek in new inter galactic movie Home.

Steve also joined Ang Lee-directed Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk movie with Joe Alwyn and Garrett Hedlund who was also in Tim McGraw-Gwyneth Paltrow film Country Strong .

In the new movie 19-year-old Private Billy Lynn survives a harrowing Iraq battle that is captured by news cameras.

Further info - www.stevemartin.com

HAYLEY MARSTEN STORM IN A D CUP

Gladstone born singer Hayley Marsten proves she's a lover - not a fighter - and rebel with a cause on her debut.

She performs in the video for Storm in A D Cup from her EP Even, cut with Bill Chambers at son Nash's Foggy Mountain studio in December, 2014.

Hayley, 21 is a protege of Texans Miranda Lambert and Kacey Musgraves, Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift.

Marsten was humbled when Bill flew to Gladstone to play in her band and also open the show for the home-town launch of Even.

“Hayley came fully prepared with her songs already arranged and pretty much ready to go,” Bill revealed.

“Even though this was her first recording experience Hayley sang with conviction like she'd been doing it for years. I was also impressed with the way she guided the band, obviously knowing exactly what she wanted, yet with a casual attitude that made working with her a pleasure.”

The five originals on Even feature dobro, banjo and steel guitar - she wrote her first song at the age of seven.

Hayley also plays mandolin - her 21st birthday present.

Further info - http://www.hayleymarsten.com/

MARK LUCAS RADIO PAIN

South London expat Mark Lucas debuts on Nu Country with his radio metaphor for love.

Please Tell The DJ is on Lucas's sixth album Little Town Blues on Stuart Coupe's indie label Laughing Outlaw.

CLICK HERE for Mark Lucas CD reviews in The Diary.

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate the 28th series of Nu Country TV.

Australian record companies and artists have joined forces to ensure our survival.

We now offer Angels And Alcohol - the 20th album by Georgian superstar Alan Jackson.

Also new CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your membership.

They include singing actors Willie Nelson and Tim McGraw, Voice judge Blake Shelton, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Gary Allan, Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Charley Pride, Slim Dusty and more.

We also have a Lady Antebellum DVD.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.

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