#723 > Eddie 9 Volt - Saratoga (PhillyCheezeBlues.Blogspot.com)

 

2024 – Ruf Records

By Phillip Smith; Jan. 4, 2025

Original source : phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com

 

Eddie 9V, aka Brooks Mason first wowed me with his Little Black Flies record in 2021. He continued to draw me in on his 2023 release Capricorn. With his third and latest album, Saratoga, Eddie 9V delivers a gorgeous hat-trick, with this first three albums out the gate all hitting the bullseye. Cowritten with his brother Lane Kelly, Saratoga was recorded by the two multi-instrumentalists in their own studio Echo Deco Studio in Atlanta with guest musicians appearing on horns, lap steel, and fiddle.

Riding a propulsive rhythm with a locomotive beat, Saratoga opens with its title-track. The song bursts open with big waves of energy and poetic verse relating the trapped feelings of small-town living. Eddie’s soulful voice sounds absolutely remarkable. I soak up the goodness of the slow-pace, horn-infused track “Delta”. I can’t help but wrap myself up in its playful swampy groove. I love the fiddle-fueled genre-bending hillbilly hip-hop banger “Wasp Weather”. “Truckee” seemingly draws inspiration from classic rock bands like The Doobie Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young for its carefree, lazy Sunday feel. It’s a beautiful song. The cover of Mac DeMarco’s “Chamber of Reflection” is a brilliant make-over which takes the song to greater heights. “The Road to Nowhere” brings the record to its close with a western ballad served in a sea of twang-filled guitar topped with vocals reminiscent of music legend Roy Orbinson.  

Eddie 9V is definitely on a hot-streak. I absolutely adore Saratoga from beginning to end.

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For more information about Eddie 9V,  visit the website @  https://www.eddie9volt.com/

Catch up on previous PhillyCheeze reviews featuring Eddie 9V through this link :  https://phillycheezeblues.blogspot.com/search?q=Eddie+9V

#502 : Eddie 9V - Little Black Flies

 

2021 – Ruf Records

 By Phillip Smith; June 5, 2021

 

Little Black Files marks the third album for the twenty-five-year-old Atlanta-area singer-songwriter Eddie 9V, aka Brooks Mason, and it’s going to be hanging tight nearby and ready for play at any given time this Summer.  Recorded live in the studio, with an arsenal of top Georgia-based musicians, this cocktail of blues and southern soul that Eddie 9V has masterminded, makes for a fresh and invigorating listen.  With Eddie on lead guitar and vocals, the recording band is comprised of Cody Matlock on rhythm guitar, Lane Kelly, Brandon Boone (Tedeschi Trucks Band), and Marvin Mahanay splitting up the bass guitar parts, Chad Mason on organ and Fender Rhodes, Jackson Allen on harp, Aaron Hambrick on drums, Mandi Strachota on background vocals, and Sam Nelson on alto and tenor sax.

I absolutely love the soulfulness of “Little Black Flies” which ushers the album in.  This timeless song of infatuation with a girl engaged in an abusive relationship with another man is downright brilliant.  With every listen, I’m reminded of how much I adored Alabama Shakes’ Sound and Color album when I first heard it.  “3 AM in Chicago” slides right in with a slow groovy beat and buttery bassline.  Eddie’s smooth vocals shine brightly on this intoxicating track.  His unbridled cover of Albert King’s “Traveling Man” sounds fantastic as he’s ripping it up on guitar amid a grand rhythm section backing topped with some serious keyboard accompaniment.  “Miss James” is another terrific cover.  This song off Howlin’ Wolf’s 1971 Message to the Young album is fun and funky. 

It’s apparent Eddie 9V listened to a lot of blues growing up.  When hearing originals such as “Reach Into Your Heart”, you hear the blues, but it’s very well crafted and bypasses the ‘cookie cutter’ blues formula which many current blues artists rely on.  “Putting the Kids to Bed” is fabulous song too.  It has a 70’s Rolling Stones vibe, and I can absolutely hear that Mick Jagger attitude in Eddie’s voice as he releases little growls like grenades thrown with precision.       

Little Black Flies is one my favorite releases of 2021.   I highly recommend it.                               

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For more information about the artist, visit this website : www.eddie9v.com

 

 

Available on Bandcamp