Photo: Cameron Flaisch
Atlanta-based American guitarist Eddie 9V is pleased to announce the release of his new single “The Road To Nowhere” on Friday November 8th. “The Road To Nowhere” is taken from Eddie 9V’s forthcoming album Saratoga released by Ruf Records on Friday, November 22, 2024.
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 concerts at Newcastle, Cluny 2 (Dec 2), Edinburgh, The Caves (Dec 3), London, Black Heart (Dec 4), and Manchester, Retro Bar (Dec 5). True Strays will support Eddie 9V at London, Blackheart (Dec 4) and Manchester Retro Bar (Dec 5).
“The Road To Nowhere”
Stream the new single HERE
Pre-order Eddie 9V’s new album ‘Saratoga’ HERE
Eddie 9V has an endless stockpile of cool stories – and you’ll find twelve of them on new studio album Saratoga. It’s a record that will thrill both newcomers and fans who have trailed Eddie since the start, showcasing his fresh, fiery spin on Southern soul, blues, rock and funk, with his 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,” Eddie says.
Eddie 9V has powered up. 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, Eddie’s music has crossed oceans and airwaves, transcending his cult-hero status to become a beacon for fans of real music everywhere. “Eddie 9V is something else,” wrote the UK’s Classic Rock – “A man who genuinely inhabits golden-era American roots, playing the most instinctive blues you’ll hear all year.”
Check out the gig listings and you’ll find this rising star playing a bigger club every time he blows through town. Scan the charts and you’ll find his most recent album, 2022’s Capricorn, locking horns with the giants of rock ‘n’ roll. “Capricorn debuted at #1 and that was a cool feeling for a week, until Bonnie Raitt kicked us off,” reflects Eddie with a smile. “But hey, that’s a cool story to be able to say…”
From the start, Eddie’s output pricked up ears, with 2019’s “Left My Soul In Memphis” dubbed “fresh and life-affirming” by Rock and Blues Muse and the chaotic free-for-all of 2021’s “Little Black Flies” praised by Classic Rock Magazine as “like having all your best mates in the speakers”. In 2023, he got his best reviews yet for Capricorn, a record tracked at the near-mythical Macon studio of the same name, that led The Guardian and Classic Rock’s Henry Yates to declare: “As an artist, he sounds fully charged”.
But the great artists evolve, and in both its songcraft and execution, 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 explains 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 deserve nothing less than your full attention. Eddie’s latest album 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. As Eddie says: “That song is about being in a lonely tiny town that feels impossible to escape.”
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