Eddie 9V with Katie Skene Band

As far back as he can remember, Capricorn Studios was calling Eddie 9V. As a kid scanning the sleeves of his favorite vinyl records, this fabled facility in Macon, Georgia, was always the secret ingredient, adding a little grit and honey to every song born on its floor. Capricorn and the bands who blew through it urged the Atlanta guitarist to ditch school at 15, play his fingers bloody throughout the south, and turn apathy into acclaim for early albums Left My Soul in Memphis (2019) and Little Black Flies (2021).

Eddie spent his first quarter-century admiring Capricorn from afar. But in December 2021, the 26-year-old finally put his thumbprint on the studio’s mythology, corralling an eleven-strong group of the American South’s best roots musicians to track his third album. “There was overwhelming excitement at being in such a legendary studio,” he says. “But we hugged and got right to work. Everyone was joyous, loving, and flat-out playing their asses off.”

You don’t come to Capricorn Studios for polish. Frozen in time since its opening day in 1969, the mojo from sessions by giants like the Allman Brothers and Bonnie Bramlett still hangs in the air, while the recording philosophy remains gloriously raw. That suited Eddie, whose output has been celebrated for its warts-and-all snapshot of what went down. “In a world where everyone is trying to sound the best, I’m trying to sound like me,” he reasons. “I always want the listener to feel like they’re in the room with us. So I’d leave it in if a drum pedal squeaked or someone laughed during a take on the Capricorn album. It’s our way of putting a stamp on the song.” Eddie’s old-school ethos goes way back. Born Brooks Mason in June 1996, he acquired his first guitar aged six, “One of those with the speaker in it – the most bang for your buck, y’know?”, ignored the prevailing pop scene at Oak Grove High School in favor of local heroes like Sean Costello and studied “older cats” like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Freddie King, and Rory Gallagher “to see what made them groove and tick.”

When Eddie infiltrated his home state’s live circuit – first with covers band The Smokin’ Frogs, then its more adept blues-rock offshoot, The Georgia Flood – he quickly pricked up ears everywhere he played. His artistic vision became full realized when he killed Brooks Mason and adopted the solo moniker that promises an electrifying night out, “Eddie 9 Volt”.

“There are too many Joe Schmo r&b bands,” he reasons. “I was on the road with another band, and we were talking like mobsters. So we gave each other names – mine was Eddie.”

The Katie Skene Band is a blues & Americana band that infuses the twang of southern rock with the cosmic sounds of California. Originally from Tallahassee, FL and currently based in Ventura, CA, Katie’s music embodies the melding of her Southern roots with a decade spent on the West Coast. Through the prism of Katie’s evocative vocals, personal songwriting and masterful guitar work, the band blends electric swamp blues with jam-band psychedelia. Onstage, they bring a joyful, incendiary energy that combines timeless songwriting with improvised jams. Since their inception in 2021, the band has played up and down the west coast and the southeast and have opened for and co-headlined with bands including Diggin’ Dirt, Hot Buttered Rum, The Coffis Brothers, Eddie 9V, Mapache, and more, and have performed at festivals including June Lake Jam Fest, Suwannee Roots Revival, Lucidity Festival, Word of South, Summer’s End Half Moon Bay, and Love Long Beach.