DAVE'S DIARY - 15/2/2021 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 10 - SERIES 46

FANNY LUMSDEN HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV

Prolific award winning Snowy Mountains singer-songwriter Fanny Lumsden headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday February 20 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.

Novocastrian Catherine Britt also returns to the show hosted by Mid-Pacific Bob Olson and repeated Wednesday at 10.30 pm and Thursday 4.30 am.

Fellow Novocastrian singer-songwriter Matt Scullion celebrates our first Aboriginal cricket team who toured England in 1866 on our program filmed and edited by our multi-talented lockdown producer Laith Graham.

Texans Granger Smith and Randall King return this week as Christian rapper Lathan Warlick debuts.

We also celebrate the legacy of Waylon Jennings with his historic live songs with Hank Williams Jr and generous gifts from late country archivist Barbara Dowling - co-host of Nu Country FM show Long in The Saddle .

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

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

FANNY LUMSDEN DIGS FALLOW

Fanny Lumsden revisits her Snowy Mountains home shortly before being voted best country artist at the 2020 ARIA Awards.

The Tooma troubadour also won five Tamworth Golden Guitars at the Australian country music awards in January.

Fanny, 34, performs her Dig video from third album Fallow that won her best female artist, album, single, video and alternate country album of year.

She recorded it with husband Dan Stanley Freeman and Matt Fell in a stone hut studio on their farm on the western side of the Snowy Mountains.

“We used this bathroom that's built out of a cast iron tank as an echo chamber,” Fanny revealed

Lumsden and her band led bowlers and music lovers onto the dance floor of the Adelong Bowls Club in her Dig video.

It was a welcome break for pandemic victims and families who survived 2019-2020 mountain mega fires.

Fanny and her band raised funds for Snowy Mountains folks at her concerts after the fires and during the pandemic.

Her album celebrates incredible surroundings caught in the horrendous bushfires - the poignant album cover image illustrates devastating impact of the valley fires.

Fanny is back on the road again with her band and son Walter who was born in July 2018 and appeared in her videos.

She also fronted Nu Country with videos for Mountain Song, This Too Shall Pass, Pretty Little Fools and Troy Cassar Daley, William Crichton, Pete Denahy and others in a collage of childhood memories and rural survivors in Real Men Don't Cry (War On Pride).

“I wrote this album in amongst a season of change,” Fanny explained.

“It was a time of re-evaluation. With this album I was really trying to just write what I felt, rather than trying to be clever about observations. I felt like I learned to see not just the funny, witty stuff anymore. I want to say these things and sing these things because that's what I'm feeling right now. I'm in this space, so why not celebrate it?”

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

CATHERINE BRITT PATERNAL PRAISE

Newcastle cancer survivor Catherine Britt praises her dad for turning her onto country music in her latest video.

Catherine celebrates her musical family in Fav'rit Song from her ninth album Home Truths on her Beverley Hillbilly Records label.

“It was an idea I have had for a while based on how my father and I connected over music and later in life, I did the same with my husband”, Catherine said of Fav'rit Song.

“I always feel like I can really get to know someone when they share their favourite music with me. It helps me to connect and get them completely”.

Britt hosted ABC Saturday Night Country radio show and published music magazine Rhythms while writing and recording albums and touring.

Catherine, now 36, suffered breast cancer at 30 and celebrated recovery with James Beverley - her former husband of seven years - and two sons Hank, 3, and Morrison, 1.

The couple met at a Newcastle gym and married less than five months later after eloping to Las Vegas.

They separated in August last year and Catherine lives with their sons in Newcastle when not touring.

CLICK HERE for a Catherine Home Truths CD feature in The Diary on January 25.

MATT SCULLION FROM HARROW TO LORDS

Latter day Novocastrian Matt Scullion honours the first Aboriginal cricket team's England tour in his return to the show in his 1868 video.

He vividly depicts the story of 13 pioneer unsung heroes from Harrow in western Victoria.

Their 47 matches against UK teams from May to October in 1868, included the famous Lords oval.

The song was recorded at Sound Hole Studio by his award-winning producer Shane Nicholson.

“I was first told the story by cricketing legend Len Pascoe and was amazed that I'd never heard the story before,” Scullion revealed, “and as I hung the phone up, I knew that I had to write a song about their experiences.”

The video was shot and produced by Scullion and wife Sharon.

They wanted to travel to Victoria - Jardwadajali, Wotjaboluky and Gunditjmara Country where the cricketers came from but were forced to film in NSW because of border closures.

“We chose Glen Elgin as the backdrop because of its similarities,” he explained. “And though it's not the same, we hope we did the beautiful Victorian landscape justice.'

1868 also tells the story of the cricket team using original photos and newspaper clippings from Josie Sangster of Harrow Discovery Centre that celebrates Johnny Mullagh - one of the main characters in the song and 1868 tour.

Richard Kennedy is the great-great-grandson of Yangendyinanyuk (Dick-a-Dick), who travelled to England as part of the team.

“It's great to hear the first song about such an important part of Australia 's untold history and its recognition of our ancestors for their achievements,” Kennedy said.

“It's a sentiment shared by Cricket Australia , who describe the song as “an incredible way to share and celebrate the journey of the 1868 Aboriginal XI cricket team - a backbone of Australian cricket. The story is one of strength, resilience and triumph in a time of hardship and struggle. Matt has threaded this story beautifully into a great song we can all sing to share the story far and wide.”

Matt appeared in Paul Hogan-Shane Jacobsen movie Charlie & Boots that featured his song Giddy Up from previous album Put It Down To Experience .

Scullion has penned 16 #1 country songs recorded by Ian Moss, Lee Kernaghan, Sara Storer, Brian Cadd, Adam Harvey, Travis Collins, Drew McAlister, Rick Price, Richard Clapton, Paul Costa, Wolfe Brothers, Richard Clapton, Sara Storer, Jayne Denham and many more

Further info - http://mattscullionmusic.com/

GRANGER SMITH AND LATHAN WARLICK

Texan troubadour Granger Smith returns with Lathan Warlick - a Christian rapper.

Lathan and Granger, aged 41, took their kids fishing and riding in a joyous trip to the bush and water in their video for That's Why I Love Dirt Roads .

They celebrate solace after the drowning death of Granger's son River , aged just three, that was also depicted in the video for the title track of Smith's 10th album Country Things.

The farmer's son toured in 2018 with Fawkner export Jasmine Rae and played Village Green in Waverley .

CLICK HERE for a Granger Smith-Jasmine Rae Village Green live review in our Concerts Section on July 26, 2018.

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

RANDALL KING HOSTS FAMILY REUNION

West Texas rancher Randall King hosts a family reunion in his return.

The Hereford hay hauler and latter day Lubbock resident had help from above for a mum and daughter.

King depicted their emotive reunion in Hey-Moon - the title track of his fourth album.

He also appeared on Nu Country with Taking It As It Comes, Hey Cowgirl, She's Gone, Taking Me A Heartbreak, Old Dirt Road and Another Bullet .

Further info - https://www.randallkingmusic.com/

WAYLON AND HANK JR

Late West Texan outlaw Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr return to Behind Bars with a celebration of Hank's dad who died at 29 on New Year's Day in 1953.

They perform classic videos for Mind Your Own Business and The Conversation with Merle Kilgore that are on discs by Waylon and Hank Jr.

Waylon died at 64 on February 13, 2002 and is survived by singing spouse Jessi, now 77, and son Shooter, 41.

We celebrate their legacy with generous Nu Country gifts from Waylon's late archivist Barbara Dowling who died at 77 on December 11.

CLICK HERE for a Waylon tribute CD review on June 12, 2017.

BARBARA DOWLING HELPS KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

Your support in Nu Country TV's 46th series has been enriched by a magnificent gift by our late benefactor and Nu Country FM Long In The Saddle co-host Barbara Dowling.

Barbara donated a lavish collection of Waylon & Willie, Highwaymen, George Jones and Merle Haggard CDS to Nu Country.

The pioneer Australian and Victorian country music awards judge was admired for rising above losing her sight as a young woman and pursuing her country music passion with regular trips to Waylon's birthplace in Littlefield, West Texas.

You can support us and honour Barbara by visiting our membership page.

We have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12 th 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 that features his Achy Breaky Heart hit.

Join Watling & Bates as members and win their 13 track CD Small Town Tales.

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

They include Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Eric Church, Kip Moore and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.

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