DAVE'S DIARY - 7/9/2015 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 2 - SERIES 28

WILLIE AND MERLE HONOUR JOHNNY CASH ON NU COUNTRY TV

Octogenarian Texan Willie Nelson and septuagenarian Californian Merle Haggard honour the late Johnny Cash when they headline Nu Country TV this Saturday September 12 at 10.30 pm on Channel 31/Digital 44.

Kentucky born singing actor Dwight Yoakam also returns to the show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm, Wednesday 7.30 am and Thursday 3.30 am.

Tennessean Ashley Monroe precedes host Mid Pacific Bob Olson who has a perfect spring recipe - Chorizo and potato soup - in Behind Bars and Barbecues in the Beer Can Hill delta of Northcote.

Acclaimed Queensland born singer-songwriter Shane Nicolson also returns during his national tour to promote his ninth album Hell Breaks Loose on a program filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

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

Just follow this link on your computer or mobile phone –

http://www.c31.org.au/program/view/program/nu-country-tv

WILLIE, MERLE, DJANGO, JIMMIE AND THE MAN IN BLACK

Willie Nelson, 82, and Merle Haggard, 78, reveal their admiration for fellow Australian tourist - the late Johnny Cash - in Behind Bars And Barbecues.

Cash died at 71 on September 12, 2003 - long after his many Australian tours dating back to the fifties.

Willie, who first toured here in 1981, returned with Cash in The Highwaymen on three trips in the nineties with the late Waylon Jennings and fellow singing actor Kris Kristofferson.

Willie and fellow Texan Kris played golf at the Yarra Bend course between concerts.

Rhodes Scholar Kris, now79, kept fit by walking back to the Hilton from the Rod Laver Arena.

The Willie and Merle song Missin' Old Johnny Cash is on their third duet disc Django & Jimmie .

So is Alice In Hulaland that featured their new video filmed in Willie and Kris's adoptive home state Hawaii .

It features them relaxing with a pair of acoustic guitars they played on their sequel to 1983 release Pancho & Lefty.

The disc features 14 joint collaborations including It's All Going To Pot - illustrated by a video on Nu Country TV on May 30.

It debuted at #7 on Billboard's Top 200 charts and honoured Belgian gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt who died at 43 of a brain haemorrhage at Avon in France after a Paris concert on May 16, 1953.

The other honouree was Mississippi born singing brakeman Jimmie Rodgers who succumbed to TB at 35 on May 26, 1933.

It was Merle's first Top 10 album in his 50 year plus career and Willie's fourth.

Willie and Merle embark on a new tour starting on October 15 in Florence , South Carolina , and ending at Billy Bob's in Fort Worth on November 28.

Willie will also be awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song in November.

The prize honours a living artist's lifetime achievement in enhancing cultural understanding and entertaining, informing and inspiring new generations through his or her music, and whose contributions exemplify standard of excellence associated with George and Ira Gershwin.

Former Gershwin Prize recipients include Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, the late Hal David, Carole King and Billy Joel.

CLICK HERE for a Django & Jimmie CD feature in the Diary on July 6.

DWIGHT SINGS OF LIARS AND CHEATERS

Singing actor Dwight Yoakam exposes Hollyweird from the luxury of hot El Caminos on Sunset Boulevard.

That's Burbank - not Burwood - where Dwight performs Liars with a vast cast.

Dwight, 58, is due back here next year between movie roles for his third Australian tour over summer.

Liars is on his 19th album Second Hand Heart, not to be confused with Shane Nicholson's new video for Second Hand Man also on this week's show .

Dwight and Brandy Clark, 39, performed her song Hold My Hand live on the 2015 Grammys.

CLICK HERE for a Dwight CD Feature in The Diary on June 12.

ASHLEY MONROE ONTO SOMETHING GOOD

Pistol Annies refugee Ashley Monroe returns with Onto Something Good from her second solo CD The Blade, that debuted at #2 on Billboard Charts in July.

Knoxville born Ashley, just 29, wed Chicago White Sox pitcher John Danks on October 24, 2013, after they met through a mutual friend after one of her shows in 2011.

They were married at Blackberry Farm in Walland , Tennessee .

“I married my best friend,” the singer says of her husband.

Blake Shelton was wedding MC and his former singing spouse Miranda Lambert was the maid of honor.

With delicious irony Monroe was featured on Shelton 's hit Lonely Tonight - second single from his ninth album, Bringing Back the Sunshine .

Ashley recently comforted her Pistol Annies pal Miranda on a post-divorce night on the town.

They also performed their collaboration Heart Like Mine from Lambert's fourth album Revolution at the July 22 party to launch The Blade in Nashville .

Fans are bemused by social media reports that Lambert cheated on Shelton with former Los Angeles pitcher Josh Beckett while wed to Blake.

Ashley also performed another new song I Buried Your Love Alive this month on the Conan O'Brien show in the U.S.

CLICK HERE for a CD Feature on The Blade in The Diary on August 24.

SHANE NICHOLSON SECOND HAND MAN

Shane Nicholson, former singing spouse of Kasey Chambers, performs in the vivid video for new song Second Hand Man.

It's on his ninth album Hells Breaks Loose that he promotes in Cronulla and Wagga Wagga this month.

Shane, 39, launched his album at The Caravan Club in Oakleigh on August 8.

Nicholson's nine albums include two with Chambers during their marriage from 2008-2013 that also produced a son and a daughter.

Shane has also produced music for Angie Hart, Catherine Britt, Beccy Cole, Alex Lloyd, Suze DeMarchi, Jenny Queen, Sarah Humphreys, Nikki Jensen, Lyn Bowtell, Josh Rennie-Hynes, Lou Bradley, Jodi Martin, Allison Forbes and Quarry Mountain Dead Rats .

CLICK HERE for web mistress Anne Sydenham's launch review on her Cat Politics page.

CLICK HERE our Hell Breaks Loose feature in The Diary on August 24.

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate the 28th series of Nu Country TV.

Australian record companies and artists have joined forces to ensure our survival.

We now offer Angels And Alcohol - the 20th album by Georgian superstar Alan Jackson.

Also new CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your membership.

They include singing actors Willie Nelson and Tim McGraw, Voice judge Blake Shelton, Ashley Monroe, Brad Paisley, Gary Allan, Toby Keith, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church, Charley Pride, Slim Dusty and more.

We also have a Lady Antebellum DVD.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.

top / back to diary