With his passionate, raw-groove guitar and very high-caliber retro-soul sounds, Georgia’s EDDIE 9V has become a well-known figure in the blues ‘n’ jazz communities.
The musician, regarded as one of the most inventive & captivating guitarists / singer-songwriters in the business, graced UK venues this week with his passionately groovy and technically brilliant songcrafting.
We were lucky to see his performance last Tuesday at the wondefully friendly KOMEDIA venue in situated in Brighton’s North Lanes.
Eddie’s voice was silver-lined with malicious iridescence… the guitar a sparkplug of mischievous diamonds…
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Beg, Borrow and Steal was a beseeching caper that sounded as if it had been siphoned straight out of the 1970s, all sugarbush syrup and soul-boogaloo. The glutinous hot-luscious organ tones added capacious dimensions to a song that was inescapably Eddie’s, with that satisfyingly slippery eel-voice of his that glossed the entire piece together; slathered with fine rhythms and lockstitched with the coolest guitar on the planet.
Halo pronounced Hey Low came packed with the most amazing groove we’ve heard in a long while, accompanied by flirting organ, chattering rhythms, and a whole lollapalooza of swinging goodtime-jazz glitter.
Back home we call it jazz… said Eddie to claps and hoots from the Brighton hometown crowd.
The soul grooves gumbo continued with the sultry Missouri, featuring some of this set’s most unwavering vocals and some incredibly passionate guitar playing.
And we were wowed by the dazzlingly Lo-Fi Love, a number about atonement (although it thwacked with a sense of comeuppance too) packed with disgruntled starlight textures, scorching expressiveness, and layers of hope and redemption! Here, Eddie’s voice was a silver-lined with malicious iridescence… the guitar a sparkplug of mischievous diamonds. Top quality!
Saratoga, closed the show. It had silky grooves, hints of bluesy funkiness, and arrays of velvety, glossy vocals accentuated by a delightfully flirtatious guitar and mellow organ notes…. Dreamy!
If you enjoy tuneful, danceable, and listenable, Eddie 9V ought to be your next best-favorite band!
File alongside Creedence at their most swampy/rockabilly and/or Booker T. & The MG’s at their most soulful!
Words & Pictures: credit © Neil Mach
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