DAVE'S DIARY - 18/1/2021 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 6 - SERIES 46

TEXAN BILLY JOE SHAVER HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV

Revered late Texan outlaw singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday January 23 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.

North Carolina outlaw chart topper Luke Combs returns in a Behind Bars double shot on the show repeated Wednesday at 10.30 pm and Thursday 4.30 am.

Kentuckian Carly Pearce and Texan Maren Morris also reappear.

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

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

BILLY JOE AND FAST EDDY TRIBUTE

We honour late Texan outlaw singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver as we mourn him and other recently deceased heroes.

Billy Joe died at 81 on October 28 from a stroke shortly after fellow Texan legend Jerry Jeff Walker passed at 78 of throat cancer on October 22.

Their deaths came the same year as fellow Texans Johnny Bush of pneumonia at 85 on October 16, Mac Davis at 78 on September 29 after heart surgery and Doug Supernaw at 60 on November 13 from cancer.

Fellow singer-songwriters John Prine died of COVID-19 at 73 on April 7 and Johnny Nash of natural causes at 80 on October 6.

Jamie O'Hara of the O'Kanes died at 70 of cancer on January 7, 2021 and hit writer Ed Bruce at 81 on January 8, 2021 of natural causes.

Thrice wed Billy Joe last toured here with singing Texan crime novelist Kinky Friedman in 2002 - he also recorded a live album at the famed Corner Hotel, Richmond, on his 1989 tour.

Your diarist was chauffeur for Billy Joe and the Kinkster on their 2002 tour.

We feature Billy Joe, accompanied by late guitarist son Eddy on a live version of his gospel classic You Just Can't Beat Jesus Christ at Shotgun Willie Nelson's 1994 Farm Aid concert.

Eddy died at 38 on New Year's Eve in 2000.

We also resurrect a live version of First And Last Time he wrote about first wife Brenda whom he wed and divorced twice.

Billy Joe dedicated it to fellow Texan Willie Nelson, still in the saddle at 87, with sister Bobby, 89.

Shaver often played Willie's Farm Aid and July 4 picnics.

CLICK HERE for our Diary feature on Billy Joe's 2002 tour from The Diary on March 24, 2004.

CLICK HERE for our most recent Shaver feature in The Diary on February 23, 2015.

LUKE COMBS BACK BEHIND BARS BY PUBLIC DEMAND

North Carolina nouveau outlaw Luke Combs returns to Behind Bars in a live double shot.

Luke, like Billy Joe, dedicates a song Forever After All to wife Nicole whom he married on August 1 on a southern Florida beach.

And like fellow chart topper and expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban he writes songs for and about a wife named Nicole.

But not The Other Guy he filmed in isolation with his trio during lockdown.

Forever After All and The Other Guy are on new deluxe album What You See Is What You Get that topped charts on release in October.

Nicole inspired many songs including ninth consecutive #1 hit Loving On You and topical Six Feet Apart that we featured recently.

He also recorded a duet with Amanda Shires on Without You that he promoted in a live lockdown video with his trio.

His new album followed smash debut deluxe disc This One's For You 2 - #1 for 44 weeks on Billboard .

Combs broke a record set by Randy Travis Always and Forever that spent 43 non-consecutive weeks No.1 in 1987-1988.

His album holds second-longest run at No.1 for a country album after Shania Twain's 1997 album Come On Over 50 weeks reign.

He became first artist to have first two studio albums spend 25 weeks or better at No. 1 on Billboard Country chart.

It broke the record set by Taylor Swift who previously led with 24 weeks.

Combs charted five tracks from The Prequel on Billboard Top 25 in June, 2019 - a feat not accomplished since Johnny Cash in 1959.

He toured here and played St Kilda Palais with Ashley McBryde in March, 2019, and recorded Let's Just Be F riends for The Angry Birds Movie 2 .

Luke was 29 when inducted into Grand Ole Opry on June 11, 2019, by fellow stars Craig Morgan, Chris Janson and John Conlee.

CLICK HERE for our What You See Is What You Get CD feature in The Diary on November 25, 2019.

CARLY PEARCE THE NEXT GIRL

Kentuckian singer-songwriter Carly Pearce returns with an anthemic message.

Carly, 30, is from Taylor Hill and fronted bluegrass bands from the age of 11, played a prison concert at 14 and moved to Dollywood at Pigeon Forge for music residency at 16.

She wed fellow singer Michael Ray on October 6, 2019, on a Nashville-area farm but divorced him after eight months of marriage.

"This was a hard decision. It wasn't something she wanted to have to do," Pearce revealed,

"This hasn't been a quarantine realization - it was a last resort."

Ray was not among bar flies in new video Next Girl on her third album out this year.

Carly appeared on Nu Country with Lee Brice on I Hope You Are Happy Now on her second album released on Valentines' Day, 2020.

She wrote it with Luke Combs, Randy Montana and Jonathan Singleton.

“So much has happened to me in the last few years,” revealed Carly.

“My fans have changed my life and given my music a home in this world. I grew up, let go of things that needed to go, fell in love, fell on my face, went through some hell and found Carly fully for the first time ever.”

She dedicated her previous album to her late producer Busbee who died at 43 on September 29, 2019, after a battle with glioblastoma.

He produced Pearce's debut album Every Little Thing and co-wrote her #1 single of same name.

Carly appeared on Nu Country with Hide The Wine and Every Little Thing and West Texan Josh Abbott with Wasn't That Drunk from Josh's fourth album Front Row Seat .

Further info - https://www.carlypearce.com/home

MAREN MORRIS TO HELL AND BACK

Prolific Grammy and CMA award winning Texan Maren Morris returns with acoustic video To Hell And Back from sixth album Girl that she produced with Busbee.

It was inspired by her singing spouse Ryan Hurd whom she wed on March 24, 2018, after they met writing songs in 2013.

Maren and Ryan co-wrote two songs All My Favourite People that features Brothers Osborne, Great Ones for Girl and are parents of son Hayes.

Maren, 30, is in the Highwomen quartet with Brandi Carlile, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby who appeared on Nu Country with Redesigning Women.

Morris won a 2016 Grammy for My Church and fronted Nu Country with the title track of Girl she wrote with Melbourne born LA based singer-songwriter Sarah Aarons.

She also collaborated with Aarons on huge hit The Middle and Common featuring Carlile.

Morris released three indie discs before two latest albums on which she wrote all 25 songs.

In her previous spaghetti western video Rich , set in a Tucson movie town, she played a bounty hunter who roped singing spouse Ryan who is cast as Buffalo Hurd.

She has since written and recorded protest song Better Than We Found It and Line By Line with J.P. Saxe.

In response to the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting she released Dear Hate - a song she wrote and recorded with Vince Gill.

CLICK HERE for a Morris CD review in The Diary on June 18, 2016.

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support in Nu Country TV's 46th series with Australian record companies and major artists teaming to ensure our survival.

We have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12 th album The Speed Of Now - Part 1.

Also vintage BR5-49 CD Big Backyard Beat Show and Billy Ray Cyrus's historic 1992 album Some Gave All that features Achy Breaky Heart .

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

We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming Nu Country TV members or renewing memberships.

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

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.

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