What does returning to Macon, Georgia mean to Eddie 9V? Quite a bit, turns out.
“Macon’s always a part of my musical career,” the singer told Creekside Mornings’ Charles Davis and Sam Stephens on-air this week (Nov. 29th).
“It’s one of my favorite places. I mean that because there’s such a soul there.”
The chart-topping blues and soul man recorded his current album Capricorn at the famed Capricorn Sound Studios right on Martin Luther King Boulevard in the heart of downtown Macon. The history of Capricorn Records and the studio space needed no introduction for the 27 year-old Georgia native, who tips his hat to Davis for planting the first seed that led to making the record there.
“I kind of credit Charles [Davis] to a lot of the success, because he was the one that said, ‘Look, you need to come over and record at Capricorn.’ I was thinking, ‘Ah, well I’ll go check out this studio, I know about it and all that.’ But he opened the doors to Capricorn and it was just literally like one of those TV shows where like the fake fog opens when you open the door, you know? It was just like stepping into a UFO ship that was just left there. All you had to do was plug in, you know, just plug in the board. And it was a good feeling.”
It was a good feeling that left Eddie both inspired and simultaneously a bit overwhelmed, as it does many musicians who step foot through the doors and walk straight into the history of the music that made many of them.
“I definitely had to just kind of take a breath, because I’m a history person, in general,” he said. “I’ll look at a place, you know, and I’ll start thinking about it too hard. But Capricorn was the place I told myself, ‘Look man, you know, you have the opportunity to sit here and record, you know, and think about it and embrace the history and everything, but don’t let it swallow you up and make you nervous.'”
“Honestly, the guys at Capricorn, Rob [Evans], all those guys, man, I mean, they got, they have a way of making you feel like you’re in your living room.”
And that is exactly what Macon feels like to Eddie at this point in his career, a musical home away from home. It’s a magical place for artists to come and play, record, or seek inspiration by walking the familiar path of many of their heroes. Despite the passage of time and the evolution of the industry at large, the musical “vibe” of Macon has remained immaculate.
“James Brown had Augusta, but, you know, I can’t really think of many more, you know, heavy hitting musicians that came outta one city in Georgia. I mean, maybe I’m bad on my history, but all these guys that came outta Macon: Otis [Redding], the Allman Brothers, Johnny Jenkins, what the Capricorn label was doing back in the seventies . . . I mean, gosh, Macon just has this vibe, man,” Eddie said.
“I’ve been around most cities in America and many cities over overseas now, too. But Macon has this vibe that it’s just, it’s still old school, you know? There’s a new brewery popping up everywhere, but from the main part, if you walk down Cherry Street, you’re like, ‘Ah, this is what it felt like in 1971!’ And that’s what I love about Macon: they put their music first.”
Eddie 9V takes the stage at The Capitol Theatre on Saturday, December 2nd with special guests the Vegabonds and Wim Tapley and the Cannons. Get your tickets here.