I must admit, when there was a FaceBook message to friend 8 Ball Aitken, I was intrigued! Was this a drug reference, or had I encountered an inveterate pool shark? I took the plunge. 8 Ball Aitken is Australia's best loved banana picker turned guitar picker, who has released his third album, Rebel With A Cause. From his website, "This is a raw sound from the deep north, straight out of the Mareeba Delta, all steamy and bouncing off the remnants of extinct volcanoes, booming through the cane fields. 8 Ball rolls into your personal soundtrack, packing wild wet tropics cowboy songs from the roadside, original roots music with balls."
He got on the bus with a didgeridoo. We were alarmed. 8 Ball made the bus rumble, and then he rocked! The song "Outback Booty Call" got the 2009 Capital News Q Country Song of the Year Award. Here it is on the Music Fog Bus from Celebrity Coaches during Folk Alliance 2010 in Memphis.
-Jessie Scott
