DAVE'S DIARY - 15 JULY 2019 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 8 - SERIES 40

WILLIE NELSON HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV

Octogenarian singing actor Willie Nelson headlines Nu C ountry TV on Saturday July 20 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/44.

Fellow singer-songwriter actor-TV host Blake Shelton also returns to the show repeated Monday 7.30 am and Wednesday 9 pm.

Arizona born singing pilot Dierks Bentley also reprises his roles on the program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

Local country king Lee Kernaghan appears in Behind Bars and national radio host Felicity and high-country chanteuse Fanny Lumsden also return.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.

Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/

WILLIE HIGH RIDING EQUESTRIAN AT 86

Willie Nelson proves he has no plans to retire or dismount from his trusty steeds in his return to Behind Bars.

Shotgun Willie, now 86, recently celebrated his 46th July 4 picnic and headlines his Outlaw festivals.

He also introduced his new hemp-infused products with fourth wife Annie - Willie's Remedy Relief Balm and Willie's Remedy Tea.

Those healing products infused with full-spectrum hemp oil arrive hot on heels of flagship products Willie's Remedy Coffee and Willie's Remedy Hemp Oil Tincture.

The Remedy Relief Balm is inspired by cannabis topical that Annie created in her kitchen and has used for years, with her husband, band and numerous friends.

That muscle balm contains shea butter, coconut oil, and full spectrum hemp flower oil concentrate, menthol, plant-derived Vitamin E, organic lavender and CO2-extracted arnica concentrate.

They helped the singing actor to showcase his equestrian skills as he fronted his cool band in the studio as he performed Ride Me Back Home - title track of his latest album that came out in June.

The title song was written by Sonny Throckmorton who was inspired to write it after hearing of Willie's work adopting horses stabled at his Texas Hill Country ranch.

It includes multiple originals written by Willie and producer Buddy Cannon.

The originals include Come On Time that features the same strong themes of mortality as Willie's recent song Still Not Dead.

Others include One More Song to Write and The Seven Year Itch that Cannon says means something different to him every time he hears it.

“I still don't know what that is.”

Willie also includes a new rendition of his 1972 song, Stay Away From Lonely Places.

“I'm the biggest Willie Nelson fan there is, and I thought I knew every song that he ever did,” says Cannon.

“But I had never heard that song. It sounded totally new to me. He's a born troubadour. It's the greatness: That early genius that was him and his songs is still there.”

Willie covers the late Guy Clark's My Favorite Picture Of You - title track of Clark 's final 2013 album - and Billy Joel's Just The Way You Are.

He also revives Mac Davis's 1980 hit Hard To Be Humble with his sons Lukas and Micah.

CLICK HERE for a Willie CD feature in the Diary on July 2, 2018.

BLAKE SHELTON REIGNS IN GOD'S COUNTRY

Oklahoma singing actor and TV show judge and mentor Blake Shelton returns to his drought and hurricane ravaged home state in his return.

Shelton , now 43, sings of how the devil may have gone down to Georgia but God made a pit-stop in Oklahoma.

Blake didn't need Gary Ablett to raise alfalfa from barren soil as he spent four days filming near his home in Tishomingo

Devin Dawson, Michael Hardy & Jordan Schmidt wrote God's Country - the single that follows his 13 th album Texoma Shore.

CLICK HERE for a Blake feature in The Diary on June 11, 2018.

DIERKS BENTLEY FAMILY FROLICS

Dierks Bentley, who toured here in 2012 with Australian country king Lee Kernaghan, enjoys a day out with son Knox and family in his return.

Knox, just five, and Dierks enjoyed diverse games at home and beyond on their Sunday morning coming down.

The Bentleys made the most of their welcome break on a long tour.

"I was like, alright, I like that a lot.' Because it's just a chance to hang out with my son on an off day and do something we would do anyway - kind of on steroids - and it was fun," Dierks revealed.

"What I love about it is that I plan trips and do big adventures and try to really be outside, going for stuff, but what I found, over the length of the song, is that it's about the little things that you can do that are right at your fingertips. A lot of that stuff has to do with my kids."

On the first day of the Living video shoot Bentley admitted he wasn't in the mood to seize the day.

"I'd been on the road for three weeks, and I came back on a Saturday night, and it was on a Sunday morning we shot," he recalled.

"There were, like, 30 people in my house. I was so tired, and a little grumpy. I remember at one point hiding in my closet with the door closed."

But the day improved.

"You gotta pick songs that you love singing, that bring you joy onstage," Dierks explained.

"Living is one of those songs. You've gotta sing these songs every night - or you get to, as my daughter would say. I was dropping her off at school one day, and I was like, 'Yeah, I gotta go write songs after I drop you off.' She's like, 'You mean you get to write songs today.'"

Living is the title track of 43-year old Dierks 12th album.

CLICK HERE for a Dierks CD feature in The Diary on July 25, 2016.

LEE KERNAGHAN ROAMS OUR BACKROAD NATION

Bentley's touring partner Lee Kernaghan made the most of life way beyond the big smoke in his return to Behind Bars.

Lee, 55, and father of two sons, was joined by outback families and their loyal canines.

Kernaghan's singing spouse Robby also joined him in videos to promote his national tour.

Backroad Nation is the title track of Lee's 15th huge selling album.

CLICK HERE for our Backroad Nation CD feature in the Diary on May 20.

FELICITY NEW HARMONY

ABC Saturday Night Country presenter and former Sydney Weekender and Nu Country TV host plays banjo on a joyous song after celebrating her 43rd birthday on out show in April.

She recalled a marriage proposal a decade ago from her late producer husband Glen Hannah near Indiana town New Harmony.

It's on famous Wabash river - locale of the famed cannonball.

The couple are the parents of two daughters Tia, 8, and Ellie, 6, who have also joined her on-stage.

Sadly Glenn, 2017 Musician of the Year at Tamworth 's Golden Guitar Awards, died suddenly on Tuesday May 28.

Hannah inspired her seventh solo album Frozen Rabbit.

CLICK HERE for a Frozen Rabbit CD feature in The Diary on April 29.

FANNY LUMSDEN FINDS PRETTY LITTLE FOOLS IN POOLS

High country chanteuse Fanny Lumsden and her family splashed and sang at the Ungarie Public Pool in her return.

Fanny's musician-producer husband Dan Freeman and many siblings joined her video for Pretty Little Fools .

The West Wyalong town band also had video cameos.

West Wyalong is where the late Cowboy Bob Purtell was born on September 10, 1937 and died aged 81 on July 3 this year.

Cowboy Bob made his acting debut with Judy Davis, Claudia Karvan, Frankie J. Holden and Colin Friels in the 1987 Gillian Armstrong directed movie High Tide .

Ungarie was also home for 11 members of famed Daniher footy family.

They included four VFL stars and coaches and seven daughters and grandson Joe who plays for Essendon but misses this season through injury.

Lumsden, now 33, lives in the Upper Murray near the Snowy Mountains and frequently tours drought areas.

She last appeared on Nu Country with Troy Cassar Daley, William Crichton, Pete Denahy and others in a collage of childhood memories and rural survivors in her video Real Men Don't Cry (War On Pride).

Pretty Little Fools is on Fanny's second album Real Class Act.

Further info - http://www.fannylumsden.net/

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support in Nu Country TV's 40th series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.

You can join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales .

Also Kip Moore's third album Slowheart , thanks to EMI promotions chief Dave Parker, 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 Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.

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