DAVE'S DIARY - 20 MAY 2019 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 14 - SERIES 39

LEE KERNAGHAN AND WIFE ROBBY HEADLINE NU COUNTRY TV

Australian country music king Lee Kernaghan and singing spouse Robby headline Nu Country TV Saturday May 25 at 9.30 pm on Channel 31/44.

Recent Texan tourist Lukas Nelson also returns to the show, hosted by Mid-Pacific Bob Olson, less than a month after his dad Willie's 86 th birthday.

Floridian chart topper Jake Owen appears on the program repeated Monday 7.30 am and Thursday 12 am.

Six-time Australian tourist Dale Watson returns live to Behind Bars on the show filmed and edited by Laith Graham.

East Ringwood born Pierce Brothers Jack and Patrick and Echuca raised singer-songwriter Gareth Leach also return.

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

Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/

KERNAGHAN CLAN OUTBACK IN OUR BACKYARD

Lee Kernaghan and wife Robby exuded true character building as they filmed Wheels - first single from his 20 th album Backroad Nation, released on May 10.

They survived the 46-degree heat before pit stops at Lasseter's Casino.

“When I first asked Robby if she'd be in the clip she said no,” Lee revealed.

“So, I had to sweeten the deal and I bribed her with a couple of cold beers at Lasseter's Casino.

The parents of two sons said the heat even killed flies so Robby wore a bikini and Akubra to match Lee's familiar headwear.

Lee, 55 OAM and 2008 Australian of the Year, is on a 45-date national tour that will hopefully ease drought at Wimmera hotspot Horsham on June 13.

“Much of the inspiration for the songs has come from the people I've met and the places I've travelled to, from Alice Springs to the Deni Ute Muster , from the mighty Pilbara region in WA to the backroads of Queensland , and everywhere in between,” Lee explained.

“We've been working on creating a concert event that I hope people are going to really love being a part of. A lot of new design elements have been added with the staging, lighting and screens plus the hottest band in the land, The Wolfe Brothers will be joining me and opening up the shows with a bunch of their own hits.”

CLICK HERE for Lee's Barefoot Nation CD feature in The Diary.

LUKAS NELSON FINDS HIMSELF DOWN UNDER

Lukas Nelson followed his octogenarian dad Willie into movies as the band leader-songwriter in the latest remake of A Star Is Born with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.

Nelson, now 30, wrote and produced six songs for the award-winning movie and coached Cooper's stage act.

Lukas performs in his video for Find Yourself from his fourth album with his long-time band Promise Of The Real.

Nelson and his energetic band performed songs from fifth album Turn Off the News (Build a Garden ), out June 14 on Fantasy Records in a dynamic show at the famed Corner Hotel in Richmond in April.

Album guests include Willie, brother Micah, Neil Young, Margo Price, Sheryl Crow, Kesha, Shooter Jennings, Randy Houser, Lucius, Madison Ryann Ward and Hunter Elizabeth

CLICK HERE for our review of Lukas's performance in our Concerts Section on April 17.

DALE WATSON DRINKING CONFESSION BEHIND BARS

Frequent Australian tourist Dale Watson exposed his drinking confession in his return to Behind Bars.

Thrice wed Dale, aged 56, performed I Lie When I Drink live with his Lone Stars band in Indiana.

It's on several of his 30 albums.

Alabama born Watson has also appeared in seven movies including Angel Sings with Shotgun Willie , fellow Highwayman Kris Kristofferson and singing actor Lyle Lovett.

Dale featured in Zalman King documentary Crazy Again about his nervous breakdown after girlfriend Terri Herbert died in a car accident in September 2000.

Watson released Every Song I Write Is For You in 2001 as a Terri tribute disc.

He also appeared with Sandra Bullock in 1993 Bluebird Café movie The Thing Called Love - last role for late River Phoenix whom he taught to speak in a Texan dialect.

His other roles included Yellow Rose, Lazer Team and On The Borderline and 2007 bio-picture, Austin Angel , with David Carradine before Stephen King-John Mellencamp 2102 musical, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County .

Watson was also a musical guest on reality TV love drama The Bachelorette .

Dale and fellow Texan Ray Benson also honoured the late Merle Haggard with the tribute Feeling Haggard on a recent Nu Country show.

CLICK HERE for a Watson interview in The Diary on February 21, 2007.

JAKE OWEN HEADS DOWN TO THE HONKY TONK

Jake Owen made a smart and safe decision when he quit golf for music after wake board accidents.

Owen, 37, hails from Vero Beach in south Florida , and was born 15 minutes after fraternal twin Jarrod.

After high school graduation they drove to Tallahassee where Jarrod played tennis and Jake's sport was derailed after the skiing accident.

"I had to have reconstructive surgery," recalled Owen who recently released his seventh album Greetings From Jake.

Jake performs Down To The Honky Tonk - title track of his sixth album - on his Nu Country return.

He last appeared on Nu Country with You Were Diane - his homage to John Mellencamp 1982 hit Jack & Diane and credits Mellencamp as co-writer for incorporating that song's guitar riff.

The other writers are David Ray, Tommy Cecil, Jody Stevens and Craig Wiseman.

Jake's video featured a small-town couple due to graduate high school in 1982 - same year John Mellencamp (performing as John Cougar) released rock smash Jack and Diane .

Owen sold his 4,918-square-foot mansion at Kingston Springs on the outskirts of Nashville for $1.5 million.

It once belonged to Loretta Lynn.

Owen married model Lacey Buchanan on May 7, 2012, in Vero Beach after proposing on stage but divorced in August, 2015, after three years.

Jake performed his single Don't Think I Can't Love You prior to proposing.

Owen's hits Barefoot Blue Jean Night and Anywhere With You were on a greatest hits disc released on Black Friday November 24, 2018.

Further info - www.jakeowen.net

PIERCE BROTHERS TRAVEL ON A BACK ENDS ROAD

The Pierce Brothers - Jack and Patrick - first swung from the music ropes in East Ringwood before they hit the national stage here with the Georgian Grammy winning Zac Brown Band.

They perfected their craft by entertaining city slickers as humble buskers in the Melbourne CBD.

The duo won wide acclaim for their energetic stage act and musical prowess with former Melbourne Storm star Billy Slater, a latter-day St Kilda football club mentor, and team-mates including Cooper Cronk in the audience.

On March 14, 2019, Melbourne Storm renamed the Northern Stand of AAMI Park to Slater Stand .

The Pierce Brothers, now 30, may be honoured in a similar vein in their home suburb after they return to our show with their video for Back Ends Road - first single on their fourth album Atlas Shoulders.

It follows third album The Records Were Ours and international tours.

CLICK HERE for a Pierce Brothers review in our concert section on April 19, 2017

GARETH LEACH CREEK CROSSING

Echuca born singer songwriter Gareth Leach returns with an embryonic song from a road trip home from Tamworth .

Leach's car broke down in the bush but he was rescued by a blonde belle in his video for Turn Back Jimmy Creek from his debut album Death & Taxes.

“I had just released my first EP and was in the car with my family travelling home overnight from the 2017 Tamworth Country Music Festival,” Leach recalled.

“It was a really long drive home through the night and about seven to eight hours into the drive we went past a little causeway creek called Turn Back Jimmy Creek and the inspiration for a tribute to the travelling musician song kind of just happened instantly. It's pretty funny because I didn't really plan on it, but this song really opened the flood gates for me to get started working on this record.”

Leach filmed recent video for Death & Taxes at Echuca railway station and the Murray River dock where the Emmylou paddle steamer sails from.

"Death and Taxes was written by Jasper Shelton Hollis and Gretta Ziller,” Leach revealed.

“I think it's just a really cool song. I'm really lucky in a sense, because the song had been sitting in both of their catalogues for some time, but for one reason or another had never found its way in to a recording session.

“So, when it came to me finishing off this album, it was just a really perfect fit with the overall theme so much so that it actually became the title track and I'm so stoked with how it has come up."

Kiewa Valley singer Greta and Shipwreck coast guitarist-singer Lee Sonny Boy Morgan perform on the album, produced, engineered and mixed by Tyson Fish of The Alamo in Melbourne .

Further info - https://www.garethleach.com/

HOW TO KEEP NU COUNTRY ON AIR

We need your support as we celebrate Nu Country TV's 39th series with Australian record companies and artists teaming to ensure our survival.

You can win Kip Moore's third album Slowheart , thanks to EMI promotions chief Dave Parker, and Blake Shelton's 12th CD If I'm Honest from Karen Black and Tony Midolo at Warner Music.

We also have other CDS by major artists you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing membership.

They include Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Gary Allan, Dierks Bentley, Eric Church and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.

CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for full details.

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