DAVE'S DIARY - 6 FEBRUARY 2005 - EPISODE 6 PREVIEW - SERIES 3

GRETCHEN WILSON HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV

Redneck Woman Gretchen Wilson rejected a role in the remake of TV series Dukes of Hazzard to make her second Australian sojourn this month.

But Wilson, 31, headlines Episode 6 of Nu Country TV on Saturday February 12 in an exclusive interview.

The single mother, who has sold more than three million copies of her debut CD Here For The Party, performs at the Myer Music Bowl on Sunday February 27.

Wilson and singing Texan actor Shotgun Willie Nelson, 71, are supported by a brace of veteran rock musicians at a Tsunami benefit.

It's also the reunion of Daddy Cool featuring three Nu Country members including former Beer Can Hill drumming DJ Gary Young.

Wilson was offered a role in The Dukes of Hazzard, starring Jessica Simpson as Daisy Duke.
Gretchen was asked to play a sheriff deputy who arrests Jessica Simpson.

It's a shame she couldn't put the Texan tyke and all other reality TV twerps behind bars in real life.

CLICK HERE for a Gretchen Wilson story from the Diary on January 3, 2005.


HAYSEED DIXIE RETURN HERE

Hayseed Dixie, the band who made a lucrative career of turning rock standards into bluegrass belters, made a huge impression on their whirlwind Australian tour in 2003.

The lads followed country artists diverse as Dale Watson and singing Texan crime novelist Kinky Friedman into the historic Esplanade Hotel in St Kilda.

Hayseed Dixie performs a video clip of its revamp of Motorhead tune Ace Of Spades from their fourth album Let There Be Rockgrass on Cooking Vinyl.

The band also performs and records original songs as the Kerosene Brothers and plan an Aussie return tour in April.

Further info on Hayseed Dixie at www.hayseed-dixie.com


KASEY CHAMBERS NEW PONY

Chart topping former Dead Ringer band singer Kasey Chambers found solace in the arms of a new beau when she won three Golden Guitars in Tamworth in January.

The singer grinned and bared it in public with song writing partner Cori Hopper - father of their son Talon.
Chambers said Cori was responsible for Like A River - the song she wrote that won her best single of the year at the Awards.

"He inspired it," she said.

"The song is about him."

Kasey Chambers performs another song Pony from her huge selling third album Wayward Angel that she promoted on a spring tour of the U.S.

CLICK HERE for a Kasey story from the Diary on May 31, 2004.

P C CAULTON PADS UP AT CRICKET

Expatriate Australasian P C Caulton was country before it was cool and now lives in Germany with his wife Bea.

But in the seventies when country scored mainstream exposure on high rating AM station 3UZ the singer was a pioneer outlaw.

Caulton opened for major artists diverse as Emmylou Harris, Flying Burrito Brothers and Jerry Jeff Walker on their original Australian tours.

The singer recorded an unreleased album produced by late Australian born Fairport Convention singer Trevor Lucas.

Caulton, a 3RRR-FM country music DJ in the early eighties, recorded Dead Livers singer Marty Atchison's classic Grandpa Take Me To The Cricket for that disc.

P C and the late A P Johnson also cut a political parody of I'd Love To Have A Joint With Willie - a spoof of the Dead Livers satiric swipe at the Pat Alexander penned Slim Dusty hit Duncan.

Caulton plans to return to New Zealand this year but performs his live version of the Atchison tune on the cutting edge Spurs cowboy bar circuit in Melbourne in the early eighties.

CLICK HERE to buy the Dead Livers version of Grandpa and Love To Have A Joint With Willie and info on Caulton and A P Johnson on Nu Country Records.

BRENT PARLANE DREAMS AND GIRLS

Brent Parlane was a fellow member of the Kiwi Mafia who fled New Zealand in the seventies to perform here.

Parlane and Caulton were in the White Cloud stable of another expatriate Kiwi Barry Coburn who promoted the Emmylou and Burrito Bros tours.

Coburn later found international fame as manager of U.S. stars such as Alan Jackson, Lacy J Dalton, BR549 and Diamond Rio.

He was also CEO of Atlantic Records in Nashville before returning to run Ten Ten Publishing with former Hollywood starlet bride Jewel Blanch whom he met at the Wandong Country Music Festival in 1983.

The couple at one stage were Parlane's publishers but now eke out a humble living with that of another expatriate Kiwi Keith Urban and a brace of hit writers.

Coburn also financed Greatest Hits And Ex Misses - the debut disc by A P Johnson - and first release on Nu Country Records.

Check out Brent's former publisher Coburn at www.tentenmusic.com

Parlane performs his tune The Girl Of My Dreams live in his adoptive home city of Melbourne.

CLICK HERE for a Parlane story from the Diary on October 14, 2003.

MID PACIFIC BOB CHOKES IN KITCHEN

Expatriate Californian celebrity chef Mid Pacific Bob Olson, whose parents called Arizona home, is back in the kitchen this week.

The charismatic Northcote High mathematics lecturer gets choked up on a delicious artichoke concoction.

Tune in and see why the pony-tailed prince of potions was mobbed by viewers at the Nu Country TV Arts Centre concert.

CLICK HERE for Mid Pacific Bob's popular recipe page.

BROCK COLLEY DEBUT

Uralla farm boy Brock Colley debuts on Nu Country this week with a video clip of his new single Gotta Take A Minute.

The talented singer-songwriter is a graduate of Australian College of Country Music and his tutor Roger Corbett of Bushwackers fame produced his debut six track EP.

The EP, released in July, 2004, has won exposure on community radio.

Catch his video that has also won prominence on popular pay TV channel CMC.

Further info - www.brockcolley.com

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