DAVE'S DIARY - 27/3/2017 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 9 - SERIES 32

ALAN JACKSON AND JIMMY BUFFETT HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV

Georgian star Alan Jackson and autumn tourist and singing sailor, pilot and author Jimmy Buffett pay homage to the end of the working day as they headline Nu Country TV at 9 pm on Saturday April 1 on Channel 31/Digital 44.

Fellow Georgian Brantley Gilbert celebrates a similar theme on the show filmed and edited by Laith Graham and repeated on Monday at 8 am.

NSW chanteuses Amber Lawrence, Fanny Lumsden and Catherine Britt honour females in their collaboration.

Nashville singer Aubrie Sellers - daughter of Texan Lee Ann Womack and her former singing spouse Jason Sellers - debuts this week.

North Carolina singer Luke Combs and prolific Massachusetts hit writer Lori McKenna showcase original songs.

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/series/487

Viewers can access new and previous Nu Country TV shows at the same link.

JACKSON AND BUFFETT BEACHED

Jimmy Buffett and Alan Jackson enjoy a seaside celebration on the eve of Buffett's sixth Australian tour in April.

Jimmy, now 70, and Alan, 58, won vast armies of fans on their previous Australian visits dating back to the seventies.

They perform hedonistic hymn It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere from Alan's 2003 Greatest Hits disc - one of his 25 albums since being discovered by expatriate Australasian Barry Coburn in Nashville.

Buffett has released more than 50 albums - including 28 studio discs, 14 live albums, several boxed sets and DVDS.

Jimmy was born on Christmas Day in Pascagoula , Mississippi , and spent his childhood in Mobile, Alabama.

The singing sailor has strong links to Australia - his ancestors were among original settlers on Norfolk Island.

And on January 26, 2011, Buffett was rushed to hospital after falling off stage in an encore at a Sydney Hordern Pavilion concert.

Luckily, leading trauma surgeon Dr. Gordian Fulde - head of the St Vincent's Hospital trauma unit and a Buffett fan - was near the stage.

Dr Fulde turned Buffett on his side so he could breathe and administered first aid before arranging transport to St Vincent 's.

Buffett has written four best-selling books Tales from Margaritaville, Where Is Joe Merchant, A Pirate Looks at Fifty and A Salty Piece of Land and two children's books with daughter Savannah Jane.

Buffett created Margaritaville Cafe and Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant chains and Margaritaville Records .

The multi-millionaire is also an actor and movie producer.

Buffett wrote the soundtrack, co-produced and acted in 2006 film Hoot , directed by Wil Shriner and based on a book by Carl Hiaasen.

Among his film music credits are themes for 1993 CBS TV series Johnny Bago, Turning Around for 1985 film Summer Rental starring John Candy, I Don't Know (Spicoli's Theme ) for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Hello, Texas for 1980 John Travolta film Urban Cowboy and If I Have To Eat Someone (It Might As Well Be You) for animated film Fern Gully .

Buffett's acting cameos include Repo Man, Hook, Cobb, Hoot , Congo , and From the Earth to the Moon.

He also made cameos as himself in Rancho Deluxe ( for which he wrote the music) and in FM .

Buffett was offered a cameo in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl but declined.

In 1997 Buffett collaborated with novelist Herman Wouk on a musical production based on Wouk's 1965 novel Don't Stop the Carnival.

Buffett appeared in several episodes of Hawaii Five-0 including one as helicopter pilot Frank Bama - a character from his novel Where Is Joe Merchant?

Jimmy also made cameos in 2015 film Jurassic World where he clutched two margaritas while dinosaurs were set loose in the park.

CLICK HERE for an Alan Jackson feature in The Diary on October 24, 2010.

CLICK HERE for a Jackson CD feature in The Diary on July 29, 2015.

AMBER, FANNY AND CATHERINE

Former Qantas accountant Amber Lawrence, Fanny Lumsden and Catherine Britt join forces for Cheers To The Girls - second single from Amber's fifth album Happy Ever After - released on Social Family Records on September 30.

The trio enlisted a vast cast for celebration of strong women following their dreams.

Cheers to the Girls supports and empowers women of all ages without resorting to man-bashing.

“I'm really proud of this song,” Amber, now 38, revealed.

“A lot of courage went into writing this song, and telling it how it actually is for some women. This song in part alludes to domestic abuse, but also praises women of all types - those that were bullied at school, those that didn't know their inner strength until the only choice left was to rely on and stand up for themselves. It's a rousing song of strength and is already a crowd favourite - add to this the stunning vocals of Catherine Britt and Fanny Lumsden, and this is also one of my favourites.”

Amber Lawrence is promoting Cheers to the Girls on her Love & Lies tour that began in March with Catherine Britt co-headlining and Fanny Lumsden special guest at many of the shows.

Amber won best female vocalist Golden Guitar at 43rd Australian Country Music Awards at Tamworth in 2015.

Her song The Lifesaver was based on her parents - the video and song tell the story of her life saver dad who died at 52 of leukemia in 2008.

He was orphaned at 10, left home at 15 and was homeless before he met her mum - Miss Maroubra Beach - at the famous surfing locale.

The Lifesaver is on her 2014 album Superheroes.

CLICK HERE for a review of Superheroes in The Diary on November 10, 2014.

LORI MCKENNA – HUMBLE AND KIND

Massachusetts minstrel Lori McKenna debuts with her live version of her second consecutive Grammy winning song.

McKenna wrote Humble and Kind in her pajamas in May 2014 at home between school drop-off and pick up.

“I'd dropped the little kids off at school and then came home. I keep a guitar in the dining room because it's at the front of house, and I tend to sit there sometimes and look out the window at the people going by. I'm such a weird neighbour,” Lori, now 48, revealed.

“I probably didn't get out of my pajamas until I had to pick up the kids at 2:45. I always call those spaghetti days, because spaghetti is the only thing I can cook in 15 minutes if I'm chasing a song. My family knows.”

McKenna wrote it for her family - husband and five children - and said it was her list of all the things she wanted to make sure she'd told them.

“I saw this as a very simple song,” she said of her tune that won her a 2017 Grammy and was a hit for Tim McGraw.

“It's three chords that repeat each other over and over. And once I realised I was rhyming with ‘kind,' it was just plugging in the words. But Tim saw it as this worldly thing. I was like, ‘man.'

“It's just an example of how two people can see something so differently. He saw it so much bigger than I did. And not just because I play it for shows with 200 seats and Tim plays it for shows with 20,000 seats. From the get-go, he just made it beautiful.”

Humble And Kind is on Lori's ninth album The Bird & The Rifle.

She also won 2016 Grammy song of year for Little Big Town hit Girl Crush .

She recently released 11th album The Bird & The Rifle produced by Dave Cobb.

McKenna and Brandy Clark, 40, wrote Three Kids No Husband for McKenna's eighth album Numbered Doors in 2014 after meeting a woman with five children and no husband.

It also appeared on Clark's second album Big Day In A Small Town and was inspired by a YouTube video Clark created to introduce Pray to Jesus from her 2013 album 12 Stories .

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

AUBRIE SELLERS LOVELESS

Nashville singer-songwriter Aubrie Sellers returns with her live version of Loveless Rolling Stone from debut solo album New City Blues .

Aubrey, 26, wrote it with Georgian young gun Brent Cobb, now 30.

It's one of her 14 original songs on the album.

Aubrie is the Nashville born daughter of Texan singer-songwriter Lee Ann Womack and fellow singer Jason Sellers.

She was featured on Dr. Ralph's 2015 album, Ralph Stanley and Friends: A Man of Constant Sorrow , where she sang White Dove with her mother, Lee Ann.

Many songs on New City Blues were co-written with Adam Wright - nephew of Georgian born star Alan Jackson.

After honing her craft on-stage for several years, Sellers worked with veteran producer and stepfather Frank Liddell on songs that framed her voice against electric guitars and plenty of attitude.

Strong singles Light of Day and Loveless Rolling Stone arrived in late 2015 as a prelude to her 2016 debut album on the Thirty Tigers label.

“I prefer to create friction,” Aubrie revealed.

“Because if you're not pushing buttons, you're just making something pleasant, it's probably been done before and it's not making anyone feel anything.”

“I'd rather my music be polarising than everyone like it, because they rarely do. I think passion is a lot deeper than that. I want to go deeper, and be honest that life isn't just some party and going out. I mean, don't people feel anything?”

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

LUKE COMBS PREDICTS A HURRICANE

North Carolina singer-songwriter Luke Combs predicts a storm as he debuts with Hurricane from his debut album This One's For You .

Luke, 27, hails from music mecca Asheville.

The singer and his female lead brunette belle were drenched in their love storm on a pier.

Combs released three indie EPs The Way She Rides in February 2014 and Can I Get an Outlaw that year and This One's For You in November, 2015.

Combs first single Hurricane reached Top 10 on iTunes and debuted at 46 on Billboard .

Hurricane was an accidental hit born from a $200 mistake that almost derailed his career.

Combs saved enough money for a six-song EP.

That figure was based on what he paid for his first two DIY projects.

"We recorded six tracks, and when they got done producer Scott Moffatt (of 90's Canadian boy band The Moffatts ,) was like, 'Hey man, we need to master these,' and I was like, 'what's that?'" Combs revealed.

"I never mastered my first two, I just mixed them. I think the price was $200 per song, so I was like, 'I don't have $200 per song, and I'm not going to have it.'"

Combs went home as they hadn't even cut his final vocals but one song sounded good enough: Hurricane.

After scraping together cash Combs mastered just that track.

They released it on iTunes and it sold 14,000 copies in the first week, allowing Combs to finish the album and pay Moffatt, who was working for IOUs.

"So Hurricane - the one that's on the radio - that's the only time I ever sang it," he says of the studio version.

He has since finished the album and is touring with Georgian Brantley Gilbert.

It includes Hurricane, One Number Away, When It Rains It Pours, I Got a Way With You and the title track.

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

BRANTLEY GILBERT THE WEEKEND WHEELS

Georgian Brantley Gilbert tries new wheels after failing as a mechanic in his video for The Weekend from his fourth album The Devil Don't Sleep.

Brantley, 32, changed his mode of transport from car to motor bikes and boats after his wife sold his Cougar.

But after the party his Cougar and wife both boomeranged

Brantley also boomeranged in real life after splitting with fellow singer Jana Kramer.

He debuted on Nu Country in June, 2015, with More Than Miles that was inspired by second wife - Georgian school teacher Amber Cochran.

It was on his second album Half Way To Heaven .

He was originally signed to Colt Ford's label, Average Joe's Entertainment and released Modern Day Prodigal Son and Halfway to Heaven before joining Big Machine label .

Gilbert wrote Jason Aldean hits My Kinda Party and Dirt Road Anthem and released third album Just As I Am in 2015.

His six chart entries include four #1 hits Country Must Be Country Wide, You Don't Know Her Like I Do, Bottoms Up and One Hell Of An Amen .

Further info - http://www.bring-it-on.org/

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate Nu Country TV's 32 nd series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.

We have Kasey Chambers 11th CD Dragonfly and Blake Shelton's 12th CD If I'm Honest from Karen Black and Tony Midolo at Warner Music.

We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing membership.

They include singing actor Tim McGraw, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and more.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.

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