DAVE'S DIARY - 20 JULY 2006 - PREVIEW EPISODE 3 - SERIES 6

JAKE NICKOLAI HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV

Hotshot Whyalla born guitarist and singer-songwriter Jake Nickolai headlines Nu Country TV this Saturday - July 22 - at 8.30 p m on C 31 after a triumphant trip to Nashville in June.

Nickolai, just 22, won wide acclaim at the CMA Global Artist Showcase at The Stage On Broadway.

Celebrity chef Mid Pacific Bob Olson hosts our show that enables Jake to be seen in his home state - South Australia - on Sunday at 6.30 p m on C 31 in Adelaide.

Bob was among a 1,000 strong-crowd when Jake fronted the prestige Nu Country TV Arts Centre concert on January 30, 2005, with singing sweetheart Kylee Ellis.

Jake lives with Kylee on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria in between tours and performs a video of his cinematic tune Three Days Driving.

The Nu Country showcase led to a national tour with fellow South Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist ABC Music star Beccy Cole.

Jake's Nashville debut was so spectacular he was booked to play Riverside Daytime Stage on the CMA Music Festival that ignited interviews with GAC (Great American Country - over 30 million subscribers).

Jake also wrote with major Nashville hit writers including Neil Coty, Mike Mobley and Jon Vezner - singing spouse of Kathy Mattea.

He performed at various clubs including a gig with Catherine Britt at 12th and Porter and at the Bluegrass Inn on Broadway.

And the guitarist did a charity recording session with South Australian born star Jedd Hughes, Lee Ann Womack and Joe Nicholls, produced by Dan Huff of Keith Urban and Tim McGraw fame.

He also played on an album with young star Kyle Wyley and met legendary guitarist Steve Cropper - writer of Dock of The Bay - who gave him one of his guitar picks.

"It was a great learning experience working in Nashville and also being able to see some of the best musicians in country music playing live. There is just so much musical energy in that city and it's definitely rubbed off on me. I can't wait to get back," says Jake, now promoting his seven-track ABC Music CD Think About You.

Jake will cut his first ABC album after the Johnny Cash tribute-show Walk The Line.
The show runs for six days from July 18 at Star City Showroom in Sydney.

Other artists include Britt, Cole, Adam Harvey, Travis Collins and Richard Clapton.

CLICK HERE for a Jake CD review from the Diary on September 13, 2005.

BILL CHAMBERS LIVE FROM PORT FAIRY

Fellow South Australian born singer-songwriter and guitarist Bill Chambers returns to Nu Country with a dazzling live concert from the 30th annual Port Fairy folk festival.

Our new editor and co-producer Kerry Richardson filmed Chambers and his hot band live in one of the large marquees.

Chambers, raised in Southend and Millicent, performs Poison Blood from his second solo CD Frozen Ground.

The multi-instrumentalist returns to the U.S. in spring for a tour with daughter Kasey to promote her fourth solo CD Carnival.

Bill and Kasey are also promoting their back catalogue of Dead Ringer Band discs, now in U.S. stores.

Kasey showcases Carnival, released in the U.S. on September 12 on Warner Brothers, at the famed Austin City Limits Festival and other gigs in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

CLICK HERE for a Bill Chambers CD review from the Diary on April 2. 2006.

SUNSHINE HARVESTER DEBUT

Iconic Melbourne band Sunshine Harvester, fronted by former Nu Country FM DJ Moanna Kerr, also debuts this week.

Moanna, an interviewer for Nu Country TV, and singing spouse Leo Kahans, formed Sunshine Harvester from the ashes of previous band Rusty Truck.

Kahans (banjo, fiddle, mandolin-vocals,) double bassist Rod Boothroyd and acoustic guitarist Brian Fitzgerald drive the harvester.

The band performs its song Brave - a highlight of its self-titled debut disc.

CLICK HERE for a Sunshine Harvester review from the Diary on February 23, 2005.


MID PACIFIC BOB COOKS UP STORM

Expatriate Californian culinary king and popular former Nu Country DJ Mid Pacific Bob Olson returns to Nu Country with his mystery recipe of the week.

The singing chef, who hails from the rich Napa Valley wine growing HQ north of San Francisco, has been busy cooking up a storm in the Northcote High School kitchen.

Bob ordered another closed set in his Beer Can Hill Delta secondary spice factory as he and fellow academic producer Peter Staubli sampled this week's exotic egg-plant recipe.

Secrecy was necessary for the popular Mathematics lecturer and former Nu Country DJ whose recipes are often pillaged by commercial TV shows after he prepares them for peers, students and viewers.

CLICK HERE for more of Mid Pacific Bob's mouth-watering recipes.

BIG & RICH COME TO OUR CITY

Superstar Nashville duo Big & Rich performs a video for the title track of huge selling second album Coming To Your City.

Co-founder John Rich, former member of chart topping band Lonestar, has become a prolific writer as part of the MusikMafia.

The Texan Pentecostal preacher's son records and performs with partner Big Kenny Alphin and discovered fellow superstar Gretchen Wilson.

Wilson has sold more than four million albums and appeared at the 2005 Myer Music Bowl Tsunami gig in Melbourne where namesake Ross's iconic Daddy Cool closed the show for her.

Big & Rich broken in country music with video clips that ignited exposure on narrow radio formats with a healthy hybrid of country, rap and pop.

The videos feature Cowboy Troy, a 6-foot-5 black rapper - and Two Foot Fred, a 3-foot-2 dwarf who dances.

It all started with Big & Rich debut disc Horse Of A Different Colour featuring the hit Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).

The duo is winning massive exposure with its Vietnam War vignette 8th Of November featuring an intro by Rhodes scholar and singing actor Kris Kristofferson.

It was inspired by a wounded warrior Alphin met in a Deadwood, South Dakota bar.
Niles Harris, one of just four of the 173rd Airborne Brigade to survive a 1965 ambush by more than 1,200 Viet Cong, also gave Kenny his hat.

We'll also feature that clip on Nu Country during spring.

CLICK HERE for Big & Rich reviews from the Diary on July 18, 2006.

LEE KERNAGHAN AKUBRA AND CDS FOR MEMBERS

Viewers can win autographed copies of Lee Kernaghan's huge selling eighth album The New Bush and Catherine Britt's second album Too Far Gone by becoming new members of Nu Country TV.

The contest is also open for Nu Country members who renew their membership.

All financial members go in the draw for the Lee Kernaghan Akubra at the end of the series in October at a star-studded showcase on Saturday October 7 at Hotel Kew.

CLICK HERE for full details on our membership page.


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