Eddie 9V: Southern Soul Goes Down Here With Dan Auerbach
Twelve songs, less than a week, one room in Nashville. That is the whole story of Down Here, and it is also the whole point. Eddie 9V walked into Easy Eye Sound Studio with Dan Auerbach producing, cut the record live, and came out with the biggest sounding album of his career. It is out today on Easy Eye Sound, his debut for the label and his fifth album overall, and it lands like a band that knows exactly what it is.
The record opens with "Whole Lot Coming For You," and the title is a promise the rest of the album keeps. Marcus King guests on three tracks, including the opener and "Blowin' Up," playing slide on "Maybe That's a Good Thing" and "It Don't Bother Me." Pat McLaughlin and Daniel Tashian co-wrote alongside Auerbach, and the songs swing between Southern soul, blues, rock and roll, funk, and R&B, with country, gospel, and folk folded in. "Blowin' Up," the lead single from July, climbed to No. 22 on Billboard's Triple A chart and No. 6 on the Americana singles chart. "Rock Your Baby," out in September, reworks George McCrae's 1974 No. 1 as a Southern soul burner, and it is the album's only cover. The latest single, "Satisfy The Way I Do," arrived in October, a song Eddie demoed at home before Auerbach helped him crack the chorus.
The title track is the quiet center of the record. It is an ode to growing up in Monticello, Georgia, living with his grandparents on their 100-acre farm after his parents divorced. That grounding runs through everything here. Eddie 9V is Brooks Mason, born in June 1996 ten miles south of Atlanta, playing guitar since he was six, working the Atlanta roots and blues club circuit from the age of 15. He played every instrument on his 2019 debut Left My Soul in Memphis, then followed it with Little Black Flies in 2021, Capricorn in 2023, and Saratoga in 2024.
This year turned into his breakout. A month-long run supporting The Black Keys on their world tour led to an invitation from Auerbach to join the band on The Tonight Show. Now comes a US headline tour from January 15 to February 27, 2027, with UK headline dates to follow in March.
Listen
Start here
- "Whole Lot Coming For You," the opener, with Marcus King on guitar. The mission statement.
- "Satisfy The Way I Do," the latest single, and the catchiest thing on the record.
- "Rock Your Baby," the McCrae rework, for proof of how far this band can stretch a classic.
Where to follow
Down Here is out now on Easy Eye Sound. The Pixanami Indie Music Blog will keep an ear on the 2027 tour.