|
Introducing The Hicksville Band
The Hicksville Band are a five-piece contemporary country band from Worthing in West Sussex. They're influenced by a wide variety of music from Nashville country to west-coast country rock and the likes of Ry Cooder. They play their own music and covers of songs by contemporary artists including Brad Paisley, Eric Church and Dustin Lynch.
The band's debut album "Comfort In The Glass" is now available from iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby and reflects their passion for contemporary country music. Four of the tracks on the album were recorded in Nashville. Listen out for "Me Too" - a tongue-in-cheek homage to Brad Paisley's hit "Me Neither" - which we are featuring this month.
The Hicksville Band are currently preparing to record their second album, and you can catch them on the Smith & Rogers Country Show on Sky Channel 192 or Freesat 402 on Thursday 5th June.
|
|
|
Dwight Yoakam Winning Weekend
Dwight Yoakam is playing a one-off London date at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire on Wednesday 30th July. Click the button below to order tickets.
And tune in across the weekend of 20th to 22nd June when we will be giving away tickets to the show in our Dwight Yoakam Winning Weekend.
|
|
|
New album from The Ray Peters Band
The Kent-based Ray Peters Band's new album "Sour Mash" is aptly named after a whiskey distilling process. Sour Mash uses material from an older batch of mash to start fermentation in a new batch. That's just like the band's take on country music - some of the traditional introduced into the new to give you the best country music they can.
The album is available for £10 in our Online Music Store and features eleven tracks - three of them originals written by Ray. Among those is "Gold Fever" which is a co-write with Ray Wells from Nottingham. He approached Ray with some lyrics after the band performed at a festival in Skegness. Ray added the music, and the result is one of the tracks on the album.
|
|
|
We've had a great response already to our search for UKCountryRadio.com's Greatest Stars - the top 30 country artists of all time as chosen by you.
Between now and the end of the year, we are asking you to send us your all-time favourite three country music artists. We will use your selections to compile our end-of-year top 30 countdown.
Each month in our Newsletter, we will be featuring a couple of selections sent in by you. This month....
Ailish Brown's all-time favourite artists are Rosanne Cash, Lady Antebellum and Taylor Swift.
And Colin Leith has gone for Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash and Emmylou Harris.
Let us know your all-time favourite three country music artists by emailing greateststars@ukcountryradio.com or simply replying to this Newsletter email.
|
|
|
Meet The Team: Will Downie
That's Will Downie on the right of the photo - the guy on the left is Colt Ford - one of his favourite artists.
Will, affectionately known as "BigDawg" got into country music in 2006 when his friend gave him a compilation CD to listen to. It sat in a drawer for ages - it even got lost at one point - but when Will finally got around to listening to it, he was instantly hooked.
Will joined UKCountryRadio.com shortly after launching a country music show on a community station in the Midlands and he is one of our most passionate presenters. He has a particular passion for Hardcore Country - and you can find out what that means by tuning in to the last half hour of his show on Saturday evenings.
Will is with you every week from 6pm on Saturdays for UKCountryRadio.com Interactive - a weekly roundup of your postings on our Facebook page. He'll be absent from the show for a few weeks this month though, while he's out at the CMA Music Festival in Nashville.
|
|
|
What's on the Wall.
It's time now for our Newsletter check on the UKCountryRadio.com Wall. Here is some more country music news I've gleaned, simply by clicking The Bricks.....
* Ivor James is appearing at the festival at the Brean Leisure Park in Somerset this month.
* Regalos in Blackpool has a great online store if you're looking for western wear or the latest Line Dance gear
* There are now less than 40 days to go to this year's Americana International. We'll be there, broadcasting live. More details in next month's Newsletter.
Click the Bricks yourself to find out more and, if you have a country music website, then just click here to get your own brick.
|
|
|
Spotlight UK Artists
These are the artists we will be featuring each month during June.
June 6-8: Pete Boddis
June 13-15: The Redhillbillies
June 20-22: Cherry Lee Mewis (pictured)
June 27-29: Jet Taylor
|
|
|
|
|
The CMA Music Festival
Big & Rich are the opening artist at this year's CMA Music Festival which takes place in Nashville between June 5th and 9th. Just about all the big name stars will appear at some point - with artists playing the nightly big shows including Luke Bryan, Blake Shelton, Florida Georgia Line and Brad Paisley.
Will Downie's in Nashville for us for the festival and will be providing regular on-air updates throughout the four days. And later in the month, Will will be presenting a special CMA Music Festival review programme. Hear it on Saturday 21st June at 6pm.
|
|
|
Introducing John Hinshelwood
John is based in Glasgow. He performs solo and with his three-piece John Hinshelwood Band and also fronts a six-piece country rock banned called The City Sinners.
John has recently released his third album called "Lowering The Tone" which he produced with his guitarist Tim Black. The album is available for £10 from our Online Music Store and includes the fabulous "What's Left Is What's Right" which has been a hit on the Hotdisc British & Irish Chart.
|
|
|
Red Dirt Skinners play our Live Music Nights
Rob and Sarah Skinner play Red Dirt Music - which they tell me is music that's hard to define, drawing its influences from country, blues, folk Americana and rock. Although there are only two of them, they are a completely live artist. Rob plays acoustic guitar and bass and snare drums with his feet. Sarah plays soprano saxophone, harmonica and hi-hat.
You can see them in action at our Live Music Nights this month. See them at Ambience Cafe Bistro, Gillygate in York on Saturday 28th June and at Kenny's Fish & Chip Restaurant, Conisbrough, Doncaster on Sunday 29th June.
You can book your place by calling Ambience on 01904 652500 or Kenny's on 01709 863030. Alternatively, buy them online by clicking the button below.
|
|
|
New song from Mark Newberry
Listen this month as we feature the first 2014 release from the pen of Mark Newberry. Mark was a London police officer for many years before taking up his love of songwriting after retirement.
Like his previous releases, Mark's new song "Serves Me Right" has been recorded and performed by Pete Dymond at his studios in Bristol.
|
|
|
Exclusive Listeners' Club Competition
In this month's competition, we are giving away five recently-released albums by UK artists. The prize includes....
* A Touch Of Colour - Rawley Taylor (pictured)
* The Long Road Home - Marc Ring
* Never Too Late To Come Home - Brandan Monaghan
* Stories - Cardy & Coke
* Lowering The Tone - John Hinshelwood
To win, simply tell us which island in the Baltic Sea does Rawley Taylor live on.
Email your answer to club@ukcountryradio.com, or simply reply to this Newsletter email. The closing date is 10th June and the winner will be notified by email shortly afterwards.
Congratulations to last months' winner Ann Gill from Derbyshire, who won a copy of Charlie Landsborough's latest album after correctly completing the name of Charlie's song "What Colour Is The Wind".
|
|
|
Welcome to the following, who are receiving our Newsletter for this first time....
Colin Weston, Faith Morley, Jeannine Barry, Robert Johnson, Luke Thomas, Sian Pescow, Per Mathisen, Bonnie Paul, Don Allen, Rod Harris, John Davis, Rose-Mary Lou, George Moulder, Stu Stevens, David Wood, Louise Kovacs, Murray Black, Robert Owen, Cyril Hale, Ailish Brown, Clelia Adams, Rusty Rierson, Will Lake, Caroline Cooper, Liz Hamilton, Kris Delmhorst, Flora Reed, Peter Halpin, Rosanna Allen, Arie Den Dulk, Peter Huxford, Rowland Foley, Sandie Dodd and Clint Bradley.
|
|
|
Gig Guide
Here are some highlights from the Gig Guide this month.....
* Dolly Parton (pictured) brings her Blue Smoke World Tour to the UK this month. See her in Liverpool (8th June), Belfast (10th), Newcastle (14th), Aberdeen (15th), Glasgow (17th & 18th), Leeds (20th), Manchester (21st), Birmingham (22nd), Cardiff (24th & 25th), London (27th & 28th), Glastonbury (29th) and Nottingham (2nd July).
* The Eagles continue their UK tour with shows in Glasgow (2nd & 4th), London (16th, 18th & 20th), Leeds (23rd) and Manchester (25th).
* Kacey Musgraves plays the first of three UK dates at The Ritz Ballroom in Manchester on June 27th.
* The Red Dirt Skinners play our own Live Music Nights in York (28th) and Doncaster (29th). See above for details.
Listen out for the details of these events and more in our on-air Gig Guides with Denis Hodge and Peter Fairhead throughout each day.
|
|
Final Word
Thank you for reading our Newsletter. There'll be an extra edition later this month with details of our Awards finalists - and your chance to get tickets first for our Birthday Party in September.
Best Wishes,
Allan Watkiss,
UKCountryRadio.com
|
|
|
|
UKCountryRadio.com Awards