DAVE'S DIARY - 4 /8/2014 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 10 - SERIES 23

BATALLION OF BROTHERS AND OCTOGENARIAN SISTER HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV

Nu Country TV has a quadruple treat of brothers headlining Nu Country TV this Thursday August 7 at 10.30 pm on Channel 31-Digital 44.

Shotgun Willie Nelson, 81, pianist elder sister Bobbie, 83, showcase their video for 69 th album title track Band Of Brothers on a show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm and Thursday 2.30 am.

The Bellamy Brothers and Bacon Brothers combine forces for their colourful music-movie melange on the eve of the Floridian siblings return tour here in October.

Gippsland born and latter day Bendigo boys The Davidson Brothers tell us about their 20 year career and seventh album Wanderlust in Behind Bars .

A pair of California born singer-songwriters - James House and Jared Porter - debut on the show filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

Nu Country TV is a highlight of the 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

SHOTGUN WILLIE'S BAND OF BROTHERS


Photo by Carol Taylor

Shotgun Willie Nelson, just 81, is joined by his band of brothers and elder sister Bobbie, 83, on the title track of his 69th album.

Yes, it's named Band Of Brothers and reveals the singing actor has not lost his dry sense of Texas humour.

The eclectic disc featuring nine Willie originals and two penned by Texan soul brother Billy Joe Shaver topped The Billboard Top 200 all genre and country charts on debut.

And, yes, Willie has already recorded a follow-up - his 70 th album December Day set for release in our spring.

The album has "about eight or nine originals" including Back To Earth and I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.

“These are songs we've been playing for a long time," Nelson says.

"I really like working with the guys we had for Band of Brothers and anyone else I record with, but I really wanted to do something with my band, too."

Baptist born long-time Zen disciple Willie won his 5th-degree black belt in martial art Gong Kwon Yu Sul on the eve of his 81st birthday on April 30.

Willie staged his 41st July 4 picnic in Cowtown adjacent to Billy Bob's - the biggest cowboy colosseum in the western world with a live bull riding ring and 42 bar stations.

The octogenarian has his own golf course, a bio-diesel company whose Carl's Corner HQ locale he won in a hand of poker, and a vast array of buses to take the stress out of peak hour traffic.

CLICK HERE to win a recent Willie CD on our membership page.

CLICK HERE for our Willie Band Of Brothers feature in the Diary.

BELLAMY BROTHERS SIZZLE WITH BACON

The Bellamy Brothers return to the show with their musical mates - The Bacon Brothers - on their new video for Guilty of The Crime.

The quartet of southern siblings end up behind bars in their after being found guilty of a salacious saga.

Singing actors Kevin and Michael Bacon help from sultry actress Shannon Doherty.

Guilty of the Crime was released in June 2009.

The Bellamy Brothers plays Palms @ Crown on October 18 on their latest Australian tour.

They exuded their sense of humour when they hosted High In The Saddle during its halcyon era on 3RRR-FM.

On another occasion your diarist gave The Bellamys travel advice before they aborted an Australian tour after appearing on Mike McClellan's ABC-TV show.

Your diarist later interviewed the duo live to air in 2003 from the Lone Star Café in New York City for Malcolm T Elliott's 2UE radio show on 2UE after attending a Bob Seger concert in Meadowlands, New Jersey,

Michael and Kevin, grew up in Philadelphia with their four sisters in a home filled with music and formed the Bacon Brothers band more than 20 years ago.

Michael also became a film and television composer.

Kevin is an iconic TV and movie actor who starred in movies including Footloose and Apollo 13.

The Bacon Brothers appear on Sandra Boynton's children's CDs Dog Train , and Philadelphia Chickens , on which they sing the title track.

Their song Chop Wood Carry Water is on the soundtrack of the 2004 film The Woodsman , which Kevin produced and starred in.

Their song When You Decide You've Stayed Too Long is on the soundtrack of the 2003 film Red Betsy.

Kevin starred in and produced Loverboy with his wife Kyra Sedgwick, which Michael also scored.

In January 2006, the Bacon Brothers appeared on an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

The episode featured Michael Bacon as the episode's "straight guy" and makeover recipient, and ended with both Bacon Brothers performing.

In 2008 Michael composed many soundtracks for television, including the soundtrack for the PBS mini-series The Jewish Americans and The Kennedys for which he won an Emmy.

They kicked off their 2014 tour in January to preview their latest album, 36 Cents, out on September 16.

When Michael lived and worked in Nashville as a songwriter, his little brother Kevin would visit from Philadelphia.

He remembers that his big brother had cool musician friends and that he found the city “exotic.”

“When there are so many amazing players and songwriters living in one town you know that your audience is going to have its fair share of cats,” said the actor of a July gig at the famed Franklin Theatre south of Nashville .

Michael said the band didn't try to conform to a specific genre.

“All original songs and it's all over the place because my brother and I have very different writing styles,” he explained.

“So, it's kind of a group where the songs drive the textures rather than fitting the songs into a band sound.”

CLICK HERE for all the Bellamy Brothers tour dates in Tonkgirl's Gig Guide.

Further info - http://baconbros.com/

DAVIDSON BROTHERS WANDERLUST

We have let Hamish & Lachlan Davidson tell their own amazing story in their mini-docco in Behind Bars.

Their 20 years in the saddle here and overseas began in Gippsland and continues from goldfields city Bendigo and way beyond.

They produced their seventh album Wanderlust in Melbourne in between tours and crunching bones in the hallowed halls of modern medicine.

CLICK HERE for our review in the Diary.

HEY PORTER

Expatriate Californian singer-songwriter Jared Porter debuts with the video for Under The Sun from his maiden album East To West.

Jared was born in Grass Valley below the high Sierras in northern California - the mountain range was eulogised in Harley Allen song High Sierra on Trio 2 - the 1999 album featuring Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt.

Jared moved here with his mum at 15 and now hangs his hat in Brisbane .

The 35th Starmaker winner loves the open road and hates inside jobs.

CLICK HERE for our CD Review in The Diary.

HOUSE MUSIC

Fellow Californian singer-songwriter James House debuts on Nu Country with the video for latest single Every Time It Rains from his fourth album Broken Glass Twisted Steel.

The Sacramento born singer who reigned in our Nu Country FM radio era.

James began his career, of course, in the House Band and was Dustin Hoffman's vocal coach for the Ishtar movie.

House moved to Nashville in 1988 and signed as a solo artist on MCA in 1990.

He recorded two MCA albums - James House and Hard Times for an Honest Man.

The former featured Don't Quit Me Now that reached #25 on charts.

House, now 59, wrote Born To Be Blue for Floridian band The Mavericks , making their third Australian tour in October.

The Grammy-nominated artist released his new disc - his first in more than a decade - on April 29 on the Victor House Records label.

His chart-topping hits include Ain't That Lonely Yet (Dwight Yoakam), A Broken Wing (Martina McBride) and In A Week Or Two for Diamond Rio as well as his own charting releases

His album "is the result of one of those ‘truth is stranger than fiction' stories that occur every now and again in the music business."

For House it was an unexpected boon.

A choreographer in the U.K. , Yvonne Anderson, recently came across his mid-90's hit titled This Is Me Missing You , created a line dance to it.

Suddenly House had a new-found celebrity in the U.K.

That dance was followed by two more, fuelling a demand for more House music.

“I'd been toying with the idea of putting together a Greatest Hits CD, but then I started getting calls from the editor of a magazine in England called Up Country telling me that my music was having a resurgence over there," House revealed.

"That's all I needed to go back into the studio. I'd written some new songs I wanted to record, so I thought, why not?””

House, honoured with four BMI Million-Air Awards, signifying songs that have been played more than a million times on radio, has recorded his own versions of those hits.

“I feel like I've put together a collection of new songs that reflects where I am now and that fans of the country music that was being released back when I was recording in the '90s will like - Mavericks , Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, the Bakersfield sound - that feel," he explained.

"I'm really hoping that what started last year in the U.K. will carry over into the U.S. Thanks to that one dance, I now have a 16-city summer tour of the U.K. and a new album on its way.”

The title track of 1994 album Days Gone By - that included This Is Me Missing You - was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1994 movie The Cowboy Way .

That album featured collaborations with Raul Malo, Trisha Yearwood and Nikki Nelson.

He also co-wrote six songs on Texan Steve Azar's 2009 album Slide On Over Here.

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

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate our 23rd series of Nu Country TV.

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

We have 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, Carrie Underwood, Chris Young, Charley Pride, Slim Dusty, Rosanne Cash and more.

We also have the latest John Denver all-star tribute album and DVDS by Lady Antebellum.

top / back to diary