Atlanta-based American guitarist Eddie 9V will release his new album, Saratoga, on Friday 22nd November through Ruf Records. Ahead of that is ‘The Road To Nowhere’, his latest single taken from the long player.
Coming on like Roy Orbison singing the brush-stroking blues with a little country Elvis in there, while Link Wray-like guitar stirs in the background, ‘The Road To Nowhere’ contemplates death but feels oddly right as we veer toward the Christmas festive season.
A hell of a different tune to his previous release, ‘Halo’, you can stream both via digital platforms here, and check out videos for them here at RAMzine.
Acoustic led until the brass come in, ‘Halo’ swings with an affecting near calypso blues groove. Vocally falling somewhere between Labi Siffre and Noel Mcalla, younger souls might claim Pharrell Williams, and perhaps a little Sting, but how a Yank comes across quite like those black guys or a soft-spoken Geordie I leave to others to argue over. As a listener, I approve.
Eddie 9V’s Saratoga features the tracks ‘Saratoga’, ‘Halo’, ‘Love Moves Slow’, ‘Tides’, ‘Cry Like The River’, ‘Red River’, ‘Delta’, ‘Wasp Weather’, ‘Truckee’, ‘Love You All The Way Down’, ‘Chamber Of Reflection’ and ‘The Road To Nowhere’.
You can order the album here, stream the single here and check out the video right here at RAMzine.
The announcement of the new album, dovetails Eddie’s November and December UK Tour where he will support Robert Jon & The Wreck at Oxford, Academy 2 (Nov 30) and Nottingham, Rock City (Dec 1), followed by headline UK club shows Newcastle, Cluny 2 (Dec 2), Edinburgh, The Caves(Dec 3), London, The Black Heart (Dec 4), and Manchester, Retro Bar(Dec 5).
Tickets are available from here and Eddie 9V’ss website.
Apparently, Eddie 9V has an endless stockpile of cool stories and we’ll find twelve of them on Saratoga where we’re promised a fiery spin on Southern soul, blues, rock and funk, with the man’s signature wit and sharp observations of modern America placing him squarely in the here-and-now. “I do think it’s a wonderful road trip album,” he commented.
From the day he first slung a guitar on a local stage, the Georgia-born bandleader announced himself as an artist to watch. But in the last few meteoric years, his music has crossed oceans and airwaves, transcending his cult-hero status. “Capricorn debuted at #1 and that was a cool feeling for a week, until Bonnie Raitt kicked us off,” he reflected on his most recent 2022 album, with a smile. “But hey, that’s a cool story to be able to say!”
Saratoga finds Eddie painting with more colours from his palette. “I was shooting for a more Americana-type album this time, less blues songs and solos and more focusing on the songwriting,” he explained of the eleven originals co-written with his brother, the much-respected Southern musician, Lane Kelly. Unlike the anarchy of earlier albums, meanwhile, the sessions mostly saw the multi-instrumentalist siblings hunkered down at their own Echo Deco Studio in Atlanta, self-producing the new tracks with Patrick Meese and inviting guest players to supply horns, fiddle and lap steel.
“It was definitely more me and my brother in our home studio recording everything. There’s a lot of guests, for sure, but it was mainly overdubbing. We did the songs ‘Saratoga’, ‘Delta’ and ‘Halo’ at Crown Lanes Studio in Denver, Colorado, and it was nice to take a break, walk outside, see the mountains, feel the fresh air. At our studio, it’s just muggy with mosquitoes. But sometimes it’s good to not have distractions.”
Likewise, the new songs of Saratoga announces his new groove with the crisp, purposeful beats of the opening title track, an instant favourite that gets under your skin with its almost disco-style harmonies and joust of horns and slide guitar. “That song is about being in a lonely tiny town that feels impossible to escape,” He said.
‘Halo’ struts from the speakers on Eddie’s falsetto howl, before the lush yearning of ‘Cry Like A River’and ‘Love Moves So Slow’ (co-written by Spencer Pope) brings vintage soul into the modern age. The brittle riffs and spacey vocal of Delta mark another gearshift, flowing into ‘Red River’ with its reflective-yet-kinetic groove. ‘Wasp Weather’ speaks to Eddie 9V’s love of rapid-fire streams of consciousness. “That’s my favourite lyrically ’cos I like spewing words that don’t make sense into songs. ‘I got a big mud house that I can’t keep clean, it’s useless’ – I love that line.”
The album plays out in style with the trilling alt-folk of ‘Truckee’. “We got high and did shrooms and camped on the Truckee river in California,” he explained of the inspiration – the wistful ‘Tides’ and ’Love You All The Way Down’. He even slips in a brass-blasting take on Mac DeMarco’s ‘Chamber Of Reflection’, before bringing the record home with ‘The Road To Nowhere’ and its shuddering, tremolo-drenched country lament, his trademark twang utterly transformed into a vintage croon.
“Capricorn was a big jump for us,” he reflected. “But I’m already writing new songs, y’know?”
