DAVE'S DIARY - 22/5/2023 - PREVIEW OF EPISODE 11 - SERIES 55
BRAD PAISLEY HEADLINES NU COUNTRY TV
West Virginian singer-songwriter-guitarist Brad Paisley headlines Nu Country TV on Monday May 27 at 7 pm.
Texan Tracy Lawrence also returns to the show filmed and edited by our multi-talented lockdown producer-host Laith Graham.
Treble Grammy winning Georgian Zac Brown Band and Delaware singer-songwriter Jimmie Allen boomerang to Behind Bars on the show repeated Thursday at 1 am.
Dual Golden guitar winning Highett duo The Weeping Willows and Texan Rachel Bradshaw and Alabama hit writer Jamey Johnson also appear this week.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info - https://www.c31.org.au/
BRAD DOWNTOWN NASHVILLE
 |
Treble Grammy winner Brad Paisley heads downtown in Nashville with guests including Rhodes Scholar singer-actor Kris Kristofferson on his Nu Country return in his City Of Music video.
Brad toured with expat Novocastrian Morgan Evans and Mackenzie Porter in 2022 with gigs at Rod Laver Arena , Deni Ute Muster and CMC Rocks Queensland.
Paisley, 50, launched his line of American Highway bourbon in 2021.
The whiskey was aged in barrels stored in 53-foot semi-trailer that followed his 2019 U.S. tour for 7,314 miles across 25 states.
“Bourbon is like songwriting, it's a blend of things coming together to make something incredible,” Paisley revealed.
“These are really special barrels that saw more of the United States than most people I know.”
Paisley worked with distiller Bardstown Bourbon Company in Kentucky - Bourbon Capitol of the World.
Brad chose different drinks for previous Nu Country pandemic videos The No 1 In Beer and My Miracle filmed in iso with viral guests Jimmie Allen, Kelsea Ballerini, Lindsay Ell, Tim McGraw, Darius Rucker, Carrie Underwood and more.
Brad and wife Kimberly Williams-Paisley founded The Store nonprofit free-referral based grocery store in Nashville.
City of Music follows 12th album Love And War and precedes 13 th album Son Of The Mountain.
Click Here for a Paisley feature in The Diary on June 5, 2017.
TRACY LAWRENCE WHISKEY WARNING
 |
Another singer-actor - Texan Tracy Lawrence - follows Brad with his whiskey warning.
Tracy depicts a cowboy and ballerina lacing work and whiskey in his Nu Country return.
Thrice wed Tracy's first two wives were rodeo riders and Dallas Cowgirls cheer leaders.
They were not in his Don't Drink Whiskey video - based on a cowboy and ballerina struggling with their relationship.
“It's two totally different occupations, and I wanted that to develop and make sense,” Tracy, now 55, revealed.
“It was really challenging, but the video did just that. And that made me very happy. The concept of bringing two different worlds together and facilitating it through a video really brings the song to life. I hope the fans take away relationships are a struggle. Sometimes they don't work because of the overwhelming passion one has for their own art.”
Don't Drink Whiskey was written by Cassidy Lynn Alexander, Conner Lawrence Sweet and Marla Cannon-Goodman.
Lawrence filmed in many locations including a farm as he drove a tractor surrounded by cattle.
Don't Drink Whiskey is on Hindsight 2020, Volume 3: Angelina - his 20th album in a 30-year career.
Lawrence and songwriter Flip Anderson wrote lyrics and music for Storming Heaven: The Musical - based on Denise Giardina's award-winning novel about labour strife in southern West Virginia coalfields in 1920-21.
Tracy appeared in L.A. Dirt movie filmed around Mobile , Alabama , and plays Uncle Charlie to nephew, Ty Hargrove, portrayed by Michael Roark, and performed his Dirt Track Demon on the soundtrack.
Further info - http://www.tracylawrence.com
JIMMIE ALLEN HEADS DOWN HOME
 |
Delaware born singer-songwriter Jimmie Allen joined headliner Paisley on Nu Country on his Freedom Was A Highway video.
It was Jimmie's third #1 hit and Paisley's 21 st.
Allen precedes his 38th birthday on June 18 by returning to Nu Country with his Down Home video.
Jimmie recently divorced his pregnant wife shortly before being sued for sexual assault and rape by his former manager.
Allen denied the allegations but admitted they had a sexual relationship.
He was dropped from the 2023 CMA festival from June 8-11 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.
Being on the outer is not new for Allen who slept in his car on his Nashville arrival until writing hits for peers.
When Georgian singer-songwriter Caylee Hammack hit Nashville at 19 she slept in her car in the same park as Jimmie.
“We stayed in the same parking lot,” Caylee told Nu Country TV.
“He was a few months later. We could have been neighbours. It's a really cool world where people have welcomed me into the family in Nashville .”
Down Home is on Jimmie's third album Tulip Drive.
He also fronted Nu Country in 2019 with Make Me Want To from debut album Mercury Lane that features songs about his grandmother and mother.
CLICK HERE for a Jimmie Allen interview in The Diary on September 10. 2022.
ZAC BROWN BACK IN TOWN
 |
Treble Grammy winning Georgian Zac Brown Band attracted rugby stars including Billy Slater to their Australian concerts for late Tasmanian born promoter Rob Potts.
Zac, 44 and dad of five children, boomerangs to Nu Country this week after cancelling tours with a Covid bout.
They perform Out In The Middle from his 10th album Comeback.
Band members previously performed live in the shallows on Nu Country in Same Boat to drive home their equality message.
“ The Comeback celebrates our collective resilience as a community,” Brown revealed.
“This music is about standing together and rediscovering our roots and what makes us human. I am grateful to our fans for understanding this decision, as well as everyone on the front lines who can't stay at home because their work is essential. We feel incredibly blessed to be back out on the road again, sharing these new songs with our fans. The only good thing about getting knocked down is The Comeback when it comes back around.”
Brown co-wrote all 15 songs on the album with peers diverse as Luke Combs, Jonathan Singleton, Ray Fulcher, Luke Dick, Wyatt Beasley Durrette III, Ben Simonetti, Clay Cook, John Driskell Hopkins and Jimmy De Martini.
CLICK HERE for a Zac Brown feature in The Diary on June 19, 2017.
WEEPING WILLOWS VISIT A HOUSE OF SIN
 |
Dual Golden Guitar winning Highett duo the Weeping Willows return to Nu Country after their 2022 Tamworth triumph.
Andrew Wigglesworth and Laura Coates - won Instrumental of Year with Southern Gothic and Bluegrass Recording of Year with Black Crow and have new single Lonesome Now I'm Gone.
This week we feature their House of Sin video from third album You Reap What You Sow released on March 4, 2022 .
But it's not about the happy Highett home of Dead Livers pedal steel guitarist Brendan Mitchell who performs with Mat Joe Gow and the Dead Leaves and other bands.
Duncan Toombs directed House Of Sin at Brunswick Ballroom with peers Gow, Ben Mastwyk, Lachlan Bryan, Katie Bates, Dave Wright, Shaun Ryan and Les Thomas as the priest.
They duo fronted Nu Country with Devil's Road - fifth and final single on second album Before Darkness Comes A-Calling, The Pale Rider and Travelling Man, The Roses Fall and Golden Days with Allan Caswell.
Further info - http://www.theweepingwillows.com.au/#home
RACHEL BRADSHAW AND JAMEY JOHNSON
 |
Texan Rachel Bradshaw and prolific Alabama singer-songwriter Jamey Johnson reprise a Townes Van Zandt classic in their Nu Country return.
Dallas born Rachel and Jamey go down to the river in If I Needed You.
Rachel's dad Terry is a former Pittsburgh Stealers NFL star and guitarist.
She lost her husband - a friend of Jamey - in a car accident so If I Needed You was an apt choice.
Rachel co-wrote #1 country hit What Do You Want with Jerrod Niemann and played Tonight with Jay Leno.
The Belmont University graduate's album features six originals exploring love and relationships she wrote in quarantine at her father's Texas ranch.
“The collection of music that I wrote embodies a whimsical blend of some of my favorite songs and artists that I have always been inspired by,” Bradshaw revealed.
“I write about love, and I write about tragedy. It all blends together to become a storyline that reflects my journey in life, to get to where I am now. I wanted it to be pretty acapella and I just wanted it to sound haunted, like so beautiful, where it's like super dark.”
Johnson also joined Chris and Morgane Stapleton on Nu Country with Every Night Is Saturday Night in New Orleans .
Jamey, 47, is a regular act at Willie Nelson's Farm Aid concerts and July 4 picnics and has released five albums.
He appeared in Behind Bars on a Farm Aid concert with High Cost Of Living from That Lonesome Song - his second album in 2008 that preceded his Hank Cochran tribute disc.
CLICK HERE for Jamey Johnson's Cochran Tribute CD feature in The Diary on November 4, 2012.
CLICK HERE for another Jamey Johnson CD feature in The Diary on December 13, 2011.
Further info - https://www.rachelbradshawmusic.com/
WIN WAYLON, GEORGE JONES AND MERLE HAGGARD
Help us celebrate being Nu Country TV members and win albums by late Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Highwaymen by becoming a Nu Country member or renewing your membership.
George, Waylon, Merle and Willie Nelson, now 90, were among country historian Barbara Dowling's favourite Texans.
The Waylon, Highwaymen , Merle and George discs were donated by Barbara who died at 77 in December, 2020.
She co-hosted Long In The Saddle in our Nu Country FM era and was pioneer Australian and Victorian country music awards judge.
Barbara was admired for rising above losing her sight as a young woman and her country passion with annual trips to Waylon's birthplace in Littlefield, West Texas.
Waylon died at 64 on February 13, 2002, and is survived by singing spouse Jessi, now 79, and son Shooter, 43.
WIN KEITH URBAN CDS ALSO
We have expatriate Australasian superstar Keith Urban's chart topping 12th album The Speed Of Now - Part 1.
Also BR5-49 CD Big Backyard Beat Show and Billy Ray Cyrus's historic 1992 album Some Gave All that features Achy Breaky Heart.
We have other CDS by major artists diverse as Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Kip Moore, Carrie Underwood and late larrikin A.P. Johnson you can win by becoming a Nu Country TV member or renewing your membership.
CLICK HERE for our Membership Page for details.