Eddie 9V’s ‘Beg Borrow and Steal’ Is A Joyous Southern Soul Scorcher

“This ol’ train is rattling the stone/Houston to Detroit back to San Antoine,” sings Eddie 9V on “Beg Borrow and Steal,” from his new album, Capricorn. “There’s a woman I know, I gotta get her back/She told me that she loved me, I couldn’t say it back.” The track and album are brand-new — Capricorn is out this Friday — but you’d be completely within your rights for thinking the song was a newly unearthed gem from the golden age of Memphis soul.

Playing all over the South since he was 15, Eddie 9V (born Brooks Mason in 1996) is known for his proud allegiance to back-to-basics blues, but on “Beg Borrow and Steal,” he turns his guitar and voice to gut-bucket soul, the kind that is not really made anymore, and his passion is so palpable it makes the music bristle with discovery. Rich organ and bright horn flares flesh out the old-school track, which sounds quite deliberately like it could have been recorded 50 years ago at Muscle Shoals or Hi Records.

Eddie 9V isn’t shy about displaying his love of music history. Capricorn is named after the legendary Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia, which birthed such Southern-rock staples as the Allman Brothers’ Brothers and Sisters and Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Gimme Back My Bullets, and where Eddie cut the new album. “Beg Borrow and Steal” keeps the sound and vibes of that era alive, with Eddie playing guitar, bass, and drums, and belting his heart out. When he shouts “Lookee here, baby,” it’s hard not to snap to attention and take notice  This is a deeply American sound, rich in tradition, and joyful to hear.