DAVE'S DIARY - 16/2/2015 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 12 - SERIES 25
LIGHT TURNS GOLDEN FOR AMBER AND HER LIFESAVER DAD ON NU COUNTRY TV
Former Qantas accountant Amber Lawrence headlines Nu Country TV with her Golden Guitar winning homage to her late father this Thursday February 19 at 10.30 pm on Channel 31, Digital 44.
Lawrence performs The Lifesaver from fourth album Superheroes - a tribute to her dad who was orphaned at 10, left home at 15 and then met her mum Miss Maroubra Beach.
Georgian March tourists the Zac Brown Band also return to the show repeated Monday 5.30 am and 2.30 pm, Thursday at 2.30 am and Saturday at 11.30 pm.
Hosting chef Mid Pacific Bob Olson pays his homage to his dish of the day - pulled pork salad rolls courtesy of Vietnamese culinary peers - in Behind Bars & Barbecues .
Grammy winning veteran Ricky Skaggs and his band Simply Bluegrass provide a tasty dessert in the show filmed and edited by Laith Graham.
Fellow Kentuckian Chris Knight also returns with bluegrass gospel family quintet The Isaacs .
Lawrence performs at the Geelong Motor City Music Festival on Sunday March 8.
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
MAROUBRA MINSTRELS AND SURF QUEENS
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It was no surprise Amber Lawrence won best female vocalist Golden Guitar at the 43 rd Australian Country Music Awards at Tamworth in January. Her song The Lifesaver was based on her parents. Amber's video and song tell the story of life saver dad who died at 52 of leukaemia in 2008. He was orphaned at 10, left home at 15 and was homeless before he met her mum - Miss Maroubra Beach - at the famous surfing locale. The Lifesaver is on Amber's fourth album Superheroes she performs at the Motor City Music festival in Geelong on Sunday March 8 with James Blundell, Christie Lamb , McAlister Kemp, Kaylens Rain , Travis Collins and many more. The Sydney singer, now 36, captured a true love story of how Amber's sire saved lives and created three others after meeting her surf queen mum. |
This time she illustrates her CD artwork with historic photos of her parents in their surfing era at Maroubra beach.
Lawrence reached back further when her dad inspired Always Kiss Me Goodnight and The Good Men on second album When It All Comes Down.
CLICK HERE for a CD review of Superheroes in The Diary on November 10, 2014.
ZAC BROWN BAND FREE AGAIN
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The Zac Brown band plays a sold out show at the historic St Kilda Palais on March 31 after debuting at the Myer Music Bowl in 2013 with the Jason Mraz Band. They perform a new video for their song Free, originally on their 2008 album The Foundation . Tennessean duo Joey & Rory guest in this video - an alternate version honoured U.S. troops on Zac's USO tour. The band also plays roots music festivals at Byron Bay and Deniliquin. The treble Grammy winners were joined in their previous video by Dave Grohl, steel guitarist AJ Ghent and Allman Brothers bassist Oteil Burbridge The band is now an octet - bassist Matt Mangano joined in 2014 before a tour with Grammy winning Texan Kacey Musgraves, making her Australian debut in March at CMC Rocks Queensland in Ipswich. |
CLICK HERE for an exclusive Zac Brown feature in the Diary on November 2, 2011.
CLICK HERE for a Zac CD review on August 8, 2012.
CLICK HERE for another CD review on August 9, 2010.
CHRIS KNIGHT - FROM SLAUGHTERS TO FARMS
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Kentuckian singer-songwriter Chris Knight returns to the show with his video for In The Meantime - a song for farmers and others locked out of their land.
It's on the 54 year old singer's eighth album Little Victories.
Knight has written with Texan born troubadour Lee Ann Womack whose second husband Frank Liddell discovered Knight in the nineties.
Their collaboration You Lie When You Call My Name appears on Little Victories.
Womack recorded several Knight songs on her eighth album The Way I'm Living including Send It On Down - the second single by Knight and David Leone .
Knight grew up in small western Kentucky town Slaughters.
Chris is son of David, a pipeline foreman for Texas Gas Transmission Corporation , and Brenda, who worked in a shirt factory in Madisonville, carburettor-company in Bowling Green and bakery in Possum Trot.
He grew up in the country with three brothers and a sister.
Knight said both his grandfather and great grandfather were farmers who had big farms before the Depression but couldn't hang on to them.
His backwoods song-stories begin in Slaughters an agricultural oasis of about 200 that basked in the coal boom before high-sulfur rock of the area became politically incorrect with the EPA.
Down the road and over the hill, only 35 miles away, is the birthplace of Bill Monroe.
CLICK HERE for Chris Knight CD reviews in the Diary.
RICKY SKAGGS BLUE NIGHT
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Kentuckian Ricky Skaggs washes down Mid Pacific Bob's porcine recipe with his video for Blue Night. Skaggs, now 60, was backed by Simply Bluegrass - his wife Sharon White and Whispering Bill Anderson were in his captive audience. Skaggs wed Sharon of The Whites in August 1981 and sired a daughter, Molly, and son, Lucas. |
The icon cancelled an Australian tour last decade after tickets went on sale at the St Kilda Palais.
Ricky released his autobiography Kentucky Traveller (Harper Collins ) on August 13, 2014.
He wrote it with Eddie Dean who penned prize-winning Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times with bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley.
Skaggs was born in Cordell, Kentucky, and started playing music at 5 after he was given a mandolin by his father, Hobart.
At age 6 he played mandolin and sang on stage with Bill Monroe - at 7 he appeared on Martha White's country TV variety show with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.
In his mid-teens he met fellow teen prodigy - late guitarist-singer-songwriter Keith Whitley.
They played with Whitley's banjoist brother Dwight on radio shows.
In 1970 they opened for Ralph Stanley and joined his Clinch Mountain Boys .
After four years with Stanley he performed with the Country Gentlemen , J .D. Crowe & the New South and Emmylou Harris' Hot Band .
Ricky, a multi-instrumentalist on mandolin, fiddle, guitar, mando-caster and banjo, began his solo country music career in the early 1980s and formed lauded band Kentucky Thunder .
He became a Grand Ole Opry member in 1982 and later country and bluegrass halls of fame while winning 14 Grammys in his 30 album plus career.
Ricky's 2012 album, Music To My Ears , on Skaggs Family Records was followed by 2013 live duet album Cluck Ol' Hen with Bruce Hornsby.
Further info - http://www.rickyskaggs.com/
THE ISAACS DANIEL PRAYED
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Bluegrass gospel quintet The Isaacs bless us with their video for Daniel Prayed off their 22nd album The Living Years.
The Isaacs country bluegrass gospel combo features mother Lily Isaacs, daughters Becky and Sonya Isaacs and son Ben Isaacs, along with John Bowman (husband of Becky Isaacs) as an instrumentalist and songwriter.
Joe Isaacs, formerly a singer and banjo player in the group, left after his 1998 divorce from Lily Isaacs and now works solo.
Thomas Wywrot was a member 2008-2011 before Sonya' husband Jimmy Yeary replaced him.
The multi-award winning Isaacs began singing 35 years ago and are based in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
Playing their own acoustic instruments and joined by other band members, The Isaacs blend tight, family harmony with contemporary acoustic instrumentation.
Their musical style is influenced by many genres - bluegrass, R & B, folk, country, contemporary acoustic and southern gospel.
They perform frequently at the Grand Ole Opry , Gaither Homecoming Videos and Concert Series , and travel internationally in South Africa, Norway, Holland, Scotland, Ireland, Israel, Canada and other countries.
They have been nominated and performed on the Dove Awards , International Bluegrass Music Association, National Quartet Convention and Inspirational Christian Country awards.
Other notable performances include CMA Fan Fest, Carnegie Hall, and sporting events, including Cincinnati Bengals football games, Nashville Predators hockey games, and Astros/ Braves baseball game.
The Isaacs have won seven Doves and several Grammy nominations in their career in which they spread the message of hope and grace through song and story.
Further info - http://www.theisaacs.com
HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR
We need your support as we celebrate the 25th 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, Chris Young, Charley Pride, Slim Dusty, Kacey Jones, Rosanne Cash and more.
We also have DVDS by Lady Antebellum.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.