I RECENTLY featured news of 8 Ball Aitken’s return to the USA for a series of shows, but this week I found out something I didn’t know about the red-headed, banana-picking guitar slinger.
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In November, 8 Ball has the best reason of all to return to the Land Down Under.
He plans to present a Songs of the Anzacs concert series in the New England district in November.
Promoted in conjunction with local organisations One Of a Kind and the OMNI Men’s Shed, 8 Ball and his band will perform some of the best-loved songs from the World War I era.
The well-known Aussie troubadour has a particular passion for sharing the traditional music of the Anzac era with the public, with a family legacy promoting this material over several generations.
8 Ball’s family were some of the original Scottish settlers of Far North Queensland, bush pioneers who were the first to farm in the Burdekin district. They founded the area now known as Aitkenvale, near Townsville.
The Aitkens have a long history of military service, and his family fought for King and country in several wars.
Within the 20th century, his great-grandfather was an Anzac veteran who returned from WWI, and became very well known for performing music of the era in Newcastle’s public parks.
“Music was his outlet for what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder,” 8 Ball said.
His grandmother volunteered with various charitable organisations, playing music and dancing for the troops on leave from the war.
His extended family has kept this Anzac musical tradition alive into the 21st century.
As a result, 8 Ball has kept a keen, life-long interest in Australian cultural history, and old-time Australian music, which was taught to him by his grandmother at family gatherings around the piano.
His interest in preserving and highlighting Australia’s cultural legacy is long-standing.
Prior to commencing his full-time career as a professional musician, 8 Ball was previously employed as the manager of Queensland’s Beenleigh Historical Village, where he presented a wide range of Australian-themed music, community activities, and cultural events within the grounds of this “living museum”.
By all accounts, the return of the Australian troops (at the conclusion of WWI) to their homes in rural
and regional NSW was met with jubilation.
There were many parties and celebrations held in private homes and community halls to welcome them home, particularly in the bush.
The songs to be presented by 8 Ball and his band at Songs of the Anzacs are all musical numbers which, historically, would have been performed by dance bands and played at family singalongs during this era.
Songs of the Anzacs will feature the same exciting music which aims to recreate a similar festive atmosphere, which in turn helped to forge Australia’s national cultural identity at the conclusion of the First World War.
WHATEVER you do, don’t listen to Anne McCue’s new album, Blue Sky Thinkin’, without a dance floor nearby.
This Sydney-born-and-raised songstress, who’s also pretty handy with a number of different instruments, now resides in Nashville.
When I got hold of Blue Sky Thinkin’, I was expecting something totally different, having her previous CD, Roll, in my collection.
Wow. Just grab hold of someone you want to be close to and press play is my advice.
Her bluesy-smoky voice takes you back to an era you’ve probably only read or heard about – the speakeasies of the 1920s and ’30s, where illegal alcohol was consumed and people danced all night to a hot combo.
Anne McCue is this hot combo, together with a collection of mates on accordion, lap steel, dobro, violin, saxophone, clarinet, horn, trumpet, trombone and dreamy double bass, bringing her songs, collaborations and her chosen favourites to life.
It opens with the quirky Dig Two Graves and the good tunes just keep on coming until number 12, the title track.
I found it to be fantastic driving music, although you tend to want to groove a little behind the wheel, which isn’t always convenient.
It’s hard to pick standout tracks from this disc because I enjoyed every single one. Mind you, I smiled and even laughed all the way through It Wasn’t Even Fun While It Lasted, I related to Cowgirl Blues and felt melancholy hearing Things You Left Out In The Rain.
You’ll empathise with her words, laugh out loud and maybe even cry a little, but you’ll certainly remember the name Anne McCue.
She’s an enormous talent. I’m so pleased Australia can claim her as one as of our own … even though she’s a long way from home.
Check out this extraordinary, homegrown talent on iTunes, cdbaby and visit her website, www.annemccue.com
I’ll have to check her gig guide for June when I’m in Nashville.
I’m sure she’d love to have a big bunch of Aussie supporters in the audience – and won’t we just love it?
