Eddie 9V - The Caves, Edinburgh, 4 December 2024

It’s a cold, damp December Tuesday night.  The Caves feels chilly too, and with only maybe 50 or 60 people in the room the ambience is unpromising.
Atlanta's Eddie 9V and his band are unfazed though.  They come onstage and crack into ‘Beg Borrow And Steal’ from his 2023 album Capricorn, a surefire upbeat groover with a great hook.  It may not have the horns that decorated the studio version, but Lane Kelly’s bass is funky, Chad Mason’s keys add plenty of colour, and the Voltster (as I’m sure none of his friends call him) is a cheery, chirpy presence at the heart of things.  Things are looking up.
The vibe of Capricorn and new album Saratoga is largely a fresh, snap, crackle and pop take on old-fashioned soul, but live 9 Volt and band are a sturdier, bluesier proposition.  So their reading of Albert King’s ‘Travelin’ Man’ has plenty of oomph, with Eddie contributing a satisfying degree

Eddie 9V - it's all in the fingers, people

of guitar sizzle, and Mason adding barroom piano for extra jollification.  They give Freddie King’s ‘Meet Me In The Morning’ an outing too, and give it a dynamic treatment in which 9V alternates between controlled pinging and sudden squalls of guitar, showing an impressive capacity to mix things up, complemented by a suitably expressive vocal.
There are a couple of other covers along the way that also impress.  Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Miss James’ flexes a heap of muscle, with Mason knocking out a blistering organ segment, given spiky support by Eddie’s guitar.  And there’s an Al Green song too, that I don’t catch the title of but which is a tough strut in a very different vein to ‘Let’s Stay Together’, so much so that it’s the opportunity for drummer Dave Green to launch himself into a solo that starts with him using his hands, rather than sticks, and develops into a full-scale shock and awe barrage.
Their originals stand up well in this company though.  9 Volt shows that he really does know his way around a guitar on the funky, catchy soul of ‘Halo’, spritzing up a couple of solos with smatterings of twists, turns and frills.  ‘How Long’ is classic soul with another strong hook, and a rolling groove that’s given an extra shine by Mason’s keyboards, while our Eddie knocks out some snazzy guitar and a vocal reminiscent of his Atlanta-based hero Sean Costello.  And ‘Little Black Flies’ is a great example of storytelling soul, with another impressive 9V vocal that’s strong on his trademark falsetto, plus a guitar solo on which he conjures up a remarkable sax-like tone. (At which point it’s worth noting that Eddie 9V does not come bearing a plethora of effects pedals.  He has one effect on his amp that he uses on one song, but otherwise it’s all down to his fingers and his manipulation of his decidedly beat-up looking Telecaster.)
They close the show with the hip-activating ‘Saratoga’ itself, a typically savvy soul groove.  But they’re quickly persuaded back, to encore with the brooding, low-down funkiness of ‘3am In Chicago’, and the rhythmically offbeat, half-rapped, bayou-tinged ‘Yella Alligator’, sporting yet another convincing hook to end on a high.
I’m guessing I wasn’t the only member of the audience to get warmed up by this set.  Eddie 9V has a real, positive presence, plays guitar with personality, and he and his band clearly know their onions.  I’d like to think he’ll attract a much bigger crowd next time he’s in town.

Eddie 9V - Saratoga

Eddie 9V may have emerged as a blues artist, but listening to Saratoga - as with his previous album Capricorn - he sounds more like he’s been an inmate of a soul asylum.  A goodly chunk of the 12 songs here lean towards finger-snapping soul stylings, aware of their ancestry but up to date and distinctive.
The title track ‘Saratoga’ sets the tone with a four-on the-floor beat underpinning a cool electric piano style groove, with a soulful vocal from Eddie reinforced by slinky harmonies, and with a smoochy sax bridge before things get lively via a dialled up chorus boosted by organ, and a stinging, fizzing guitar break.  Before long 9V and co are also serving up an old-fashioned soul
ballad in ‘Cry Like A River’ on which his excellent vocal delivery evokes the likes of Percy Sledge

Eddie 9V unobtrusively checks for his wallet

Pic by Cameron Flaisch

and Sam Cooke.  The following ‘Love Moves Slow’ is a loose-limbed stroll in the sunshine, with twirling electric piano and clever backing vocals courtesy Leah Bella Fraser, while the 9V fella musters a Marvin Gaye ‘Let’s Get It On’ vocal vibe – which is quite a compliment.
Eddie and his gang do explore some different highways and byways though, notably on ‘Wasp Weather’.  Here you get a half-spoken vocal over thump’n’clack percussion and diddling rhythm guitar, conjuring up the “two turntables and a microphone” rhythmic feel of Beck’s ‘Where It’s At’.  It’s an irresistible groove, embellished by a barroom piano excursion from Chad Mason.  Then they follow that with a sharp left turn into the dreamy ‘Truckee’, apparently inspired by a mushroom-fuelled camping trip on the eponymous river.  It’s all twinkling guitar and nimble, airy slide remarks, and a delicate, starlit ambience laid out over long, soft organ chords.
Meanwhile ‘Tides’ may be in a soul vein, but with more of a modern edge, akin to The Black Keys.  It may start off with relaxed, skipping drums and minimalist guitar, bass, and Wurlitzer organ, but then crunches into some tough, bass-end chords heralding the “Just like Mars and the moon” chorus, accompanied by clearer swoops of organ, while Cody Matlock adds a subtly warped guitar solo.
‘Love You All The Way Down’ is the longest track on the album, and another slow, trippy kind of animal, easing along over a lazy beat and flickers of organ, while Eddie does his classy falsetto thang again.  There are ripplings of guitar and keys, and gradually it shakes itself out of its reverie, culminating in an excellent outro highlighting sensitive guitar and Wurlitzer.
‘Chamber Of Reflection’ has a jazzy undercurrent, with smouldering, moaning horns from Noah Sills that would surely provoke Joey ‘The Lips’ Fagan of The Commitments into preaching his sermon that “soul music has corners”.
To close 9V jettisons his soul and falsetto vocal stylings in favour of a crooning approach in keeping with a ballad that might have appealed to Elvis, or Roy Orbison, with cooing vocal overdubs and twanging guitar from Eddie himself.
Eddie 9V may be standing on the shoulders of soul giants when it comes to the direction of his latest album, but he gives those influences his own spin, not least by means of his confident, characterful vocals.  And the album is given extra colour by the moments when he jumps off the soul train and comes up with something a bit different.  Saratoga is another impressive outing, taking Eddie 9V further on up the road.
 
Saratoga is out now on Ruf Records, and can be ordered here.

Eddie 9V - Capricorn

If you’re going to live up to a nom de musique like Eddie 9V, it pays to have a bit of chutzpah. And listening to Capricorn, it’s crystal clear that said Eddie – born Brooks Mason - ain’t in need of any booster shots of charisma.
When opening track ‘Beg, Borrow And Steal’ springs out of the speakers, brightly soulful horns and snapping snare giving way to a bass-popping, finger-snapping groove, it makes for a pretty darned engaging start. But things really take off when Eddie’s personality-laden, near-squawking vocal bursts into earshot, like a new buddy taking you by the elbow and hurrying you along to

Eddie 9V - no retreat baby, no surrender!

catch the vibrant chorus waiting just down the road.  He adds a couple of nifty little guitar breaks along the way for good measure, and alto sax man Noah Sills steps forward to play around with the melody to add some extra seasoning.  This, I’m thinking, sounds good.
And that’s the review right there, really.  Capricorn is a collection of songs that thwacks into the bullseye. It's delivered in style, and it’ll loosen your lumbago and make you wish you had a dance floor and a partner at your immediate disposal.  But let’s give you a bit more info to chew on, huh?
The album takes its name from the Capricorn Records studio in Macon, Georgia where it was recorded.  But while Capricorn Records is possibly most strongly associated with the Allman Brothers, the soul vibe here is more akin to that of Macon’s most famous son, Otis Redding.  Oh yeah, and judicious helpings of young Eddie’s blues sensibilities are folded into the mix too.
Slide guitar offers a signature refrain and a closing solo amid the horn punctuation of the swampy, offbeat ‘Yella Alligator’, which serves up another simple but damn good hook, the 9V fella singing about the bayou but sounding very like a creature of the streets.  ‘It’s Going Down’ has a woozy, bluesy feel, mucho relaxed and laid back, with flutterings of flute and pinging gutiar adding a summery flavour.  But ‘Down Along The Cove’ is brisker blues-rooted fare, peppered with Eddie’s slide guitar alternating conversationally with his vocal, until the slide has its moment on a gritty but playful solo, followed by a blast of rockin’ piano from Chad Mason.  The avowed influence of Sean Costello, who was raised in 9V’s home town of Atlanta, is evident here and elsewhere.
But songs like ‘Bout To Make Me Leave Home’ are delicious regardless of the blues quotient involved.  “We're trackin’ in history now,” Eddie drawls, and then they kick off a funky, rhythmic groove, simple and loose but fit to turn you to rubber, while the main man yelps out his frustrations.  There’s a classic soul vibe to the all-too-brief ‘How Long’, which comes buttered in Fender Rhodes piano and organ from Mason, with a sizzling little guitar solo as the cherry on top.  And ‘Tryin’ To Get By’ is another meltingly good song, perfectly delivered, bouncing along till it reaches a swooning pre-chorus to tee up its sunny, good-time refrain.  The multi-instrumentalist 9V is responsible for both the bass and drums here, and locks them into the pocket in swaying fashion.
There are more contemplative moments too, such as ‘Missouri’ (that's as in "Misery"), with its slinky bass and tapping drums.  And they cap off proceedings with the lazily shuffling, hypnotic groove of the dreamy ‘I’m Lonely’.  Once again, the instrumentation is woven together perfectly – bass, drums, keys, horns, guitar, everything – while Eddie, Mr Personality to the end, crafts another distinctive, soul-steeped vocal.
Capricorn is just the ticket to kick off the year.  This is a stylish, sassy, individual album, well-conceived, and well captured by Eddie 9V’s brother Lane Kelly in the producer’s chair.  Eddie 9V is the real deal – don’t say you haven’t been told!
 
Capricorn is released by Ruf Records on 20 January.