“I hope when people hear this record they feel the soul of it. I want them to feel like they’re sitting in the studio with us as we’re making music,” says Eddie 9V discussing the impact he hopes DOWN HERE will have on listeners.

Like all truly great rock records, DOWN HERE draws on a vast range of influences that include soul, blues, country, gospel and folk music to create something timeless. Musically speaking, it sits in a distinguished Southern lineage that includes the likes of The Allman Brothers, Al Green, Freddie King and Tony Joe White, shaped by the sheer real-ness and spontaneity of the performances it captures.

For Eddie 9V, DOWN HERE is also a culmination of a lifetime of experiences. Picking up his first guitar at the age of six, Eddie surfed his way through the worlds of metal and indie-rock before having his musical mind re-wired when he stumbled across a YouTube clip of Howlin’ Wolf playing the Newport Folk Festival in 1966. “Something just exploded in me when I saw that clip, and it set me on a different path,” he enthuses.

Cutting his teeth on the local Atlanta club scene, he found himself playing for four and a half hours a night, sometimes for tips alone, and, in the process, slowly transformed himself into Eddie 9V (read: Nine Volt, a name designed to suggest an electrifying night out with a wise guy). By the time he was 17, he was touring out-of-state, building his stagecraft and songwriting further. In 2019 he wrote, produced and released his first album, Left My Soul In Memphis, playing all the instruments on the record.

The three albums that followed, 2021’s Little Black Flies, 2023’s Capricorn (its name hailing from the legendary Capricorn Studios in Macon where it was recorded) and Saratoga (2024), saw him develop a global audience, garnering praise from the European and UK press along the way. As his reputation spread, Eddie kept his hand firmly on the tiller, maintaining a self-sufficient approach to making music.

In contrast to his previous recordings, DOWN HERE, Eddie’s first for Easy Eye Sound, is the sound of a seasoned musician stepping out from the world he has spent over 15 years creating. This time he has opened himself up to new experiences, starting with the songwriting itself.

The 12 tracks that make up the album stem from a set of intense sessions shepherded by Dan Auerbach at Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville where Eddie was joined by fellow soul-blues guitarist Marcus King and veteran songwriters Pat McLaughlin (Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Tanya Tucker) and Daniel Tashian (Lee Ann Womack, Kacey Musgraves, Josh Turner).

“I write all the time but it was the first time I’ve ever done a writing session in Nashville,” says Eddie, who brought 30 of his own songs to the table. “I didn’t know who we would be writing with each day, but Dan would just say ‘Just meet me here at 10’ and we would start. You’re dealing with songwriters that are top of their game, and that was incredible for me. I learnt to focus solely on the writing.”

The collaborative atmosphere on DOWN HERE is audible on the uproarious opener, “Whole Lot Coming For You,” a song which sounds like a prime slice of ’70s Southern rock ’n’ soul.

“I love the fact that you can hear that everything is really live in the studio. There are three guitar players on that track really going for it, and you don’t hear that in modern music anymore,” smiles Eddie. “I showed Dan a picture of an old ’70s Nascar with a huge wing, I think it was a Dodge Daytona, and I said, ‘I want the song to sound like that!’ He laughed his ass off but ‘Whole Lot Coming For You’ does move pretty fast.”

DOWN HERE is very much a product of Dan Auerbach’s tight-but-loose approach to tracking and Eddie’s in-built work ethic, the recording sessions lasting no more than a week in total.

“We spent more time writing than we did recording which meant we could focus on getting a good take, rather than trying to finish off a lyric or whatever,” confirms Auerbach of his highly focused approach to working in the studio. “It was all about capturing that magic moment, that fire. Eddie just killed it, especially when he was playing those solos live. We were all feeding off his energy because not only is he a great singer, his guitar playing is incredible.”

“It was fast and fluid. Dan really knows how to push me,” nods Eddie. “Realistically, it was also the first time where I was able to be an artist rather than to have to act like a producer, too and think of everything else. It felt like the glory days of Atlantic Records or Muscle Shoals Studios where the artist comes in, the house band are ready and locked, and they lay it all down. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

DOWN HERE reflects the many facets of Eddie’s musical output to date. Debut single, the country-fried “Blowin’ Up,” offers up an infectious slap-and-slide bonanza. On the surface it sounds like a rumination on fame… until you realize that the track itself is punctuated by explosions.

“It’s my favorite song on the album. It’s got such a good groove. I wanted the bass to have the Klaus Voorman groove and the drums to sound like Jim Keltner, and they do. But the song itself is about a dude blowing himself up. Literally. Marcus wrote it about a guy who blew up his RV in downtown Nashville. The lyric about ‘I’m going to paint this town red’ sounds like it’s about going out partying, but the red is something else. It’s just one of the double entendres on there.”

While DOWN HERE offers up a tightly sequenced, varied listening experience, the most unexpected track on the album is “Rock Your Baby,” a cover of George McRae’s 1974 chart-topping disco-soul smash.

“I love George McRae!” enthuses Eddie. “We gave that track our best shot, and we kind of added a Southern feel to it with a type of Duane Allman slide. It sort of sounds as if George went down to Muscle Shoals to record. It’s pretty soulful, too.”

If “Rock Your Baby” is a potential hit-in-waiting, Eddie is at his most soulful on the reflective, lovelorn beauty of “Satisfy The Way I Do” and “Horses,” the deep-grooving, emotive tune that follows it.

“‘Satisfy The Way I Do’ had an Al Green vibe when I demoed it, but it was a lot slower,” says Eddie. “Dan and I were talking about albums and songs that we loved, including “Layla” by Derek And The Dominos, and he added a chorus that transformed it into one of the best songs on the record.”

“‘Horses’ was a song I wrote really quickly on the road, and I got the idea from [San Francisco cult soul singer] Darondo,” he continues. “If I’m honest, I don’t really have that much of an emotional connection to the songs that I write. The emotional connection comes from my guitar playing rather than words, but I guess ‘Horses’ is just a little love song.”

Despite Eddie’s claims of emotional detachment, DOWN HERE is actually an album loaded with moments that are deep, human and personal. The title track, carried by its infectious, Creedence Clearwater Revival-styled downstroke, is a case in point.

“The album’s title track is an ode to where I grew up and the time when I lived with my grandparents, Mimi and Papa, after my parents got divorced. Papa passed away recently, but they were married for 66 years. They had a 100-acre farm in Monticello, Georgia, which is about an hour and 20 minutes from Atlanta. We grew vegetables, and I got to experience real country life. I can still hear Mimi on her old John Deere lawn mower. Being on the farm was some of the best times I’ve ever had in my life.”

“The song itself is a nod to that kind of life. The kind of life in these little towns that people just drive by or fly over. The lyrics are very deliberate: Folk’s been hungry down here / Lord ain’t no money down here / But we ain’t leaving down here. I had to get out of there because there was no music scene, but I could see myself living down there again.”

Equally reflective is the album closer, “Come And Get Me Lord,” which boasts a near-gospel feel. “It’s a real heavy song,” says Eddie of a track that deals with loss and contemplation.

“I’m at a transformational point in my life right now,” admits Eddie, explaining some of the album’s more wistful qualities. “I’m having to catch myself and to remember to enjoy the moment. It’s almost like I’m learning to breathe, but I am grateful for everything that has happened so far, for what is happening now and what’s to come.”

So, what has DOWN HERE actually taught the man who made it?

“Making this record has taught me how to put my guard down and just have fun rather than worrying about things,” says Eddie. “I think that’s what you can feel on the record, a sense of freedom. I hope that makes people feel good. And I hope that’s the one word people come back to after they hear the record: freedom.”