8 Ball Aitken in Altadena March 7

Nashville-based swamp-country blues musician 8 Ball Aitken is set to play The Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena on Thursday March 7, 8:00pm to 10:00pm. Tickets are $15. Phone (626) 798-6236 for reservations.

8 Ball Aitken is the Australian redneck preacher at the shotgun wedding between country and blues. It doesn’t matter which part of the family you’re from -- what does matter is the funky, foot-stomping hullaballoo at the all-night party afterwards.

Originally hailing from Far North Queensland, Australia (now Nashville based), he grew up as a teenager in a run-down tobacco shed, making a living picking tropical fruits by day, and picking guitars by night. 8 Ball’s first break came when he was hired to play nightly at the infamous Johno’s Blues Bar in Cairns, a rough-neck haunt of bikers and shrimp trawler-men. He had to keep the funky swamp music pumping and the party percolating until dawn each day, in order to keep the patrons from killing each other, with the beer flowing instead of blood.

8 Ball Aitken is authentic -- a real-deal character who rattles the roof, stomps the planks, and gets his audiences whooping and hollering along in a frenzy of pure exuberance. He started work as a farm laborer aged fifteen, doing back-breakingly hard work on the mango and banana plantations of the Atherton Tablelands, a man's work for a boy's pay. A life-changing conversation with an Aboriginal elder, who told him he should pursue a career in music, convinced 8 Ball to pack his bags, grab his guitar, and leave the farm to meet his destiny.

8 Ball Aitken is currently touring with his sizzling hot live album, ‘Alive In Tamworth’. With his trademark electri-fried slide guitar, sense of humor, interactive 3-D audience participation and deep swamp antics, he has come up with a barnstorming riot of a recording.

8 Ball’s song 'Yellow Moon' was recently part of the soundtrack on the hit USA television show, 'Justified'. He has won numerous awards and had Top Ten country hits in Australia. He is a touring animal, playing 200 gigs a year. 8 Ball has performed at festivals and clubs throughout the USA, Canada, Australia, and Europe. He’s toured in Japan four times, where he headlined the popular Rokko Sun Music Festival. He has also played extensively in Germany, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Singapore, Fiji, and the UK. And now, he's conquering America!

"One listen to Alive In Tamworth has you living the blues, feeling it, understanding the primal grooves raining down in spades. This is blues from the swamp, and you need to get on board." Samuel J. Fell (Rhythms Magazine / Rolling Stone)

THURSDAY, March 7. Show at 8:00 P.M. Tickets: $15

Reservation phone: (626) 798-6236 (Call between 10:00AM to 10:00PM).

The Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N. Lake, Altadena, California, 91001