Lukas Nelson Headlines Nu Country TV
Texan singer-songwriter and actor Lukas Nelson headlines Nu Country TV on Saturday March 21 at 10 pm on Channel 31/ Digital 44.
Tennessean Kelsea Ballerini, expat Scot Colin Lillie and fellow Australian artists William Crighton and Dave Favours appear on the show repeated at 1 am on Monday.
Brooke Spencer and The French Family Band also front the program filmed, edited and produced by co-host Laith Graham.
Nu Country TV is a highlight of C 31 streaming list on Digital 44.
Further info – https://www.c31.org.au/
Lukas Continues Family Traditon
Lukas Nelson – one of Shotgun Willie Nelson’s eight children – boomerangs as the show headliner.
Grammy winner Lukas toured here in 2019 with his Promise Of The Real band and played the Corner Hotel in Richmond.
Lukas, brother Micah and Shotgun Willie, now 92, starred in several movies that feature Willie’s movie town Luck near Austin – he fronted our show with Willie on My Best Friend.
Lukas celebrated his 37th birthday on Christmas Day and plans to fly his own plane to Uluru when he returns this year.
Ain’t Done Yet is on his 13th album American Romance released on June 20, 2025, and produced by Shooter Jennings.
Lukas previously headlined Nu Country TV with Who Are We To Say What’s It Meant To Be, Wildest Deam, More Than Friends, You Can’t Make Old Friends, Movie On My Mind, Forget About Georgia, Just Outside Of Austin, Find Yourself, Bad Case, Healing Hands Of Time, My Tears Fall and Can You Hear Me Love You
He appeared in films with his dad and had large cameos in the latest A Star Is Born movie revamp.
Nelson and Promise Of The Real were lead actor Brad Cooper’s movie band and Lukas produced and directed much of the music.
Lukas also wrote songs with Lady Ga-Ga who stared with Cooper.
Click here for a previous Lukas Nelson feature.
Click Here for a Lukas Nelson CD review.
Click Here for Lukas’s Corner Hotel concert review.
Kelsea Ballerini Sits In Parks
Tennessean Kelsea Ballerini returns to our show after she toured Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in December with Carter Faith and Australian chanteuse Aleksiah.
She hit the swing and way beyond in I Sit In Parks from her third EP Mt Pleasant.
It followed her fifth album Patterns.
The seven-time CMA vocalist of year nominee and six-time Grammy nominee was born in Mascot and moved to Knoxville.
She found love down under when she met her ex-husband – Novocastrian Morgan Evans – and married in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2017
They divorced on November 15, 2022.
“I’ve absolutely fallen in love with making EPs in between albums,” Kelsea revealed.
“There’s such a freedom and unbounded nature to the process, from the writing to the production that I have found to be a creative exercise and also palate cleanser for my own artistry,” Kelsea revealed.
“Mount Pleasant is a collection of six songs that I’ve written throughout the summer marking a chapter of heavy self-examination longing and stepping further into who I am as a 32-year-old woman.”
Further info – https://www.kelseaballerini.com/home
Colin Lillie Celebrates The Outback
Expatriate Scot Colin Lillie celebrating his adoptive home country in Alice Springs with Gretta Ziller, Pete Denahy and a Cairns choir in his Nu Country TV debut.
Colin, now 52 and singing spouse of Senator Jacinta Price, celebrated freedom, gratitude, belonging and art bringing people together in his This Land video.
This Land video director Wayne Davis highlighted the magic of folks in local environments.
Wayne also filmed a documentary following Colin’s journey across Australia, meeting artists, elders and everyday Australians whose stories reveal the true heart of the nation.
It celebrates a land of beauty, resilience and humour.
Colin captures This Land in his illustrated storybook that follows a young boy who crosses Australia in his parents battered old Ute with his guitar.
He meets many native animals who echo our country’s diverse cultural roots.
Further info – https://www.youtube.com/@ColinLillie
William Crighton Heads To The Bush
Dubbo born singer-songwriter William Crighton and his singing spouse Julieanne perform Further Down The Road in rural Australia.
It comes from many nights alone outside the world of clocks and modern man in the bush.
The video showcased the Australian landscape that mirrors the song’s vast, searching mood.
Further Down The Road is on Crighton’s fifth album Colonial Drift out in March and follows his Nu Country TV video Beautiful Country.
It also features songs penned with the late Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil.
Further info – https://www.williamcrightonmusic.com.au/
Dave Favours And Roadside Ashes Dine Out On Service Station Chicken
Sydney singer-songwriter Dave Favours and The Roadside Ashes delivering delicacies from our rural roads and highways.
They illustrated their trip with cheap flowers and delightful damsels dishing up a variety of roadside recipes in their video for their fourth album Service Station Chicken title track.
It follows previous albums Cheap Motels After Midnight and Not Your Average Country Band.
The album is a perfect showcase for a unique blend of Oz indie rock meets twangy alternative country.
“I’ve always loved albums that don’t subscribe to any particular style,” Favours revealed.
“We’re often put in the alt-country pigeonhole because at times we have acoustic guitars and pedal steel – there’s dobro and violin on this record as well. But we also pride ourselves in being able to deliver four-on-the-floor rock’n’roll – some call it cowpunk. A Saturday night gig can have a very different feel to a Sunday afternoon show and we’re always mixing it up. I wanted this album to represent that.”
Further info – https://davefavours.bandcamp.com/
Brooke Spencer And French Family Band
Brooke Spencer and the French Family Band debut on our show this week.
They performed Forever Home from the Night Of The Orphan Train soundtrack album.
Forever Home is the second video from The Night of the Orphan Train that pays tribute to the Orphan Train Movement which relocated more than 250,000 orphaned and homeless children off the streets, primarily New York City, to new homes across America between 1854 and 1929.
Night of the Orphan Train A Musical Novel marks the literary debut of award-winning producer-songwriter-engineer Brent Maher who was inspired by his discovery of The National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas.
Maher transformed his poignant slice of American history into a sweeping musical narrative that follows three fictional children from age 11 to adulthood combining historical fiction with Americana, bluegrass, roots music and melodic storytelling.
Brooke Spencer and the French Family Band have several other songs on the 23-song album.
Further info – https://www.morainemusic.com/nightoftheorphantrain
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