Kinky Friedman Headlines Nu Country TV
Late singing Texan crime novelist Kinky Friedman headlines Nu Country TV at 9 pm on Saturday June 28 on Channel 31/Digital 44.
Arizona star Dierks Bentley, Californian Jon Pardi and Georgian belle Mackenzie Carpenter boomerang to the show, repeated at 3 am on Monday.
Louisiana singer-songwriter Dennis Ledbetter and North Carolina cowboy Will Morton front our program filmed and edited by co-producer Laith Graham.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info – https://www.c31.org.au/
Kinkster Poet Rises From The Grave
Kinky Friedman died from Parkinsons Disease at his Echo Hill Ranch in Bandera County aged 79 on June 27 and we honour him a year after his passing.
The Kinkster toured here frequently and released his posthumous 20th album title-track video Poet Of Motel 6.
Kinky honours late Australian tour mate Billy Joe Shaver who died at 81 on October 28, 2020, in his video.
The Kinkster and Billy Joe travelled here with Nu Country TV host-producer David Dawson, who celebrates his 78th birthday on June 28, as their chauffeur on some tours.
Kinky died at the property where his family operated summer camps for more than 70 years.
His Sydney host – veteran Daily Telegraph and The Australian feature writer-columnist Piers Akerman – visited and comforted him at his ranch shortly before his death.
The 600-acre ranch doubles as a holiday camp for disadvantaged city students, refugees and Utopia – a shelter from the storm for homeless canines.
Kinky wrote more than 30 novels, ran twice for Texas governor and toured Australia 10 times.
His tour guests included Van Dyke Parks in 2011 and Billy Joe Shaver and Texas Jewboys pianist, melodica and kazoo player and record label boss Little Jewford in 2004.
Dawson interviewed The Kinkster at his Echo Hill Ranch in 1983 and 1988.
He first heard Kinky’s music in 1977 when he and Nu Country TV treasurer Carol Taylor rode in the limousine with late Australian Marijuana Party Senate candidate J.J. McRoach.
Dawson was featured in The Kinkster’s novels and wrote the liner notes for the 2023 Billy Joe Shaver-Kinky Friedman Live Down Under CD.
Kinky was in Nick Brenner-Angela Borelli’s Nu Country FM documentary on SBS and ABC-TV.
Click below for our Kinky Friedman-Billy Joe Shaver 2004 tour diaries and interviews.
Dierks Bentley Sips A Cold Beer
Arizona star Dierks Bentley sips cold beer with Indiana singer Stephen Wilson JR in his Nu Country TV return in Behind Bars.
Dierks, 49, has released 11 albums in his 25-year career and has a pilot’s license to fly to concerts in his Cirrus 5-seater plane.
Wilson hails from Indiana where he was a boxer before chasing music.
Cold Beer Can is one of two songs Wilson wrote with Dierks.
Dierks recently headlined our show with She Hates Me that follows his 10th album.
He played St Kilda Palais with Lee Kernaghan in 2012 where they welcomed AFL stars Andrew Walker, team-mate David Ellard and St Kilda captain and latter day TV host Nick Riewoldt.
Bentley praised an American girl in recent Nu Country video Cowboy Boots with Arkansas traveller Ashley McBryde.
It’s on Tom Petty country tribute disc Petty Country that features Dolly Parton, Luke Combs, Chris Stapleton, Willie and Lukas Nelson, George Strait, Lainey Wilson, Jamey Johnson, Steve Earle, Margo Price, Marty Stuart and more stars.
Dierks exploited his expertise behind controls of his private jet, bike, bed and river in previous Nu Country videos Drunk On A Plane and Say You Do.
Dierks, father of three, flies his own jet to gigs and played a hero pilot on his Riser Airlines flight of fancy.
CLICK HERE for a concert review of Dierks and Lee on March 13, 2012.
CLICK HERE for an exclusive Dierks interview in The Diary on September 17, 2005.
Mackenzie Carpenter Drinks Red Blue Wine
Georgian Mackenzie Carpenter showcases her taste for multi-colored wine when not fishing on her Nu Country return.
She performs Red-Blue Wine – a fine reward for Melbourne fans when their Demons win.
Mackenzie, 25, first charted with Can’t Nobody.
Red-Blue Wine is on her debut album Hey Country Queen.
Carpenter recently fronted our show with Dozen Red Flags.
She wrote Lily Rose’s 2021 No. 1 hit Villain and Top 15 singles I’m Not Pretty, Indifferent and 28th of June with fellow star Megan Moroney.
Since signing her record deal with Valory Music in 2022 she toured with Miranda Lambert, Megan Moroney, Jake Owen, Parker McCollum, Craig Campbell and Ryan Hurd.
Last year she released singles Sound Of A Heartbreak, Only Girl and (Holler) Boots On.
Click Here for Mackenzie’s previous Nu Country appearance.
Further info – https://www.mackenziecarpentermusic.com/
Jon Pardi Honky Tonk Hollywood
Californian Jon Pardi, 40, returns to our show after playing Margaret Court Arena on March 19 with Larry Fleet and Zach Top and fronting CMC Rocks Queensland Festival.
He often tours with Dierks Bentley and this week performs She Drives Away from his 17-track sixth album Honky Tonk Hollywood.
He appeared on our show with Hollywood Honky Tonk title track and Heartache Medication.
Pardi played Melbourne Forum in April and May, 2019, with Georgian Luke Bryan, 47, and Brett Eldredge, 38, from Paris, Illinois.
Pardi and Bryan joined rodeo riders and ranchers with horses and cattle in another Nu Country video Cowboys and Playboys.
Pardi proposed to wife Summer Duncan on stage at hallowed Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
They married on November 21, 2020, and have two children – a daughter and son.
Jon fronted Nu Country with Last Night Lonely, Ain’t It Always The Cowboy, She Ain’t In It and Thomas Rhett on Beer Can’t Fix from Rhett’s fourth album Centrepoint Road.
Further info – http://www.jonpardi.com/
Dennis Ledbetter Hits Hop Springs Brewery
Louisiana singer-songwriter Dennis Ledbetter and his band hit the Hop Springs Brewery stage in his return to our show.
He regretted falling in love with a belle who rang to dawn with younger men in honky tonks when he was out on the road.
I Should Have Known Better is the Shreveport born singer’s sixth album title track.
It also includes new single Right To Bear Arms on the Saints & Sinners label.
Further info – https://www.dennisledbetter.com/
Will Morton Good Old Boys Don’t Cry
North Carolina star Will Morton has a morose message in his debut single Good Old Boys Don’t Cry.
The Jacksonville journey man learned country music from his grandparents.
Will beat addiction, heartache, love, and other dramas after starting as a drummer.
Morton wrote Good Old Boys Don’t Cry with Mark McKee and Chris Ayer.
He says it was inspired by emotions felt after becoming a father and being raised by a single mother.
He filmed Good Old Boys Don’t Cry in a Nashville hotel room for his debut album The Long Way.
Further info – https://www.willmortonofficial.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 memberships.
George, Waylon, Merle and Willie Nelson 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 81, and son Shooter, 46.
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 featuring Achy Breaky Heart.
We have other CDs by major artists you can win by becoming Nu Country TV members or renewing memberships.
They include Brad Paisley, Eric Church, Kip Moore, Carrie Underwood and late larrikin legend A.P. Johnson.
