Eddie 9V Releases 'Rock Your Baby' With Dan Auerbach
The single appears on Eddie 9V's forthcoming album DOWN HERE, featuring collaboration with Marcus King and veteran songwriters.
Atlanta-bred guitarist, singer and songwriter Eddie 9V has released his new single, 'Rock Your Baby,' a radically reimagined take on George McCrae's 1974 #1 hit. The latest track from Eddie's forthcoming album, Down Here, due November 6 via Easy Eye Sound, was produced by GRAMMY Producer of the Year winner Dan Auerbach and recorded live at Auerbach's Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville.
Written by Harry Wayne Casey (KC) and Richard Finch of KC and the Sunshine Band, 'Rock Your Baby' became a massive international hit for George McCrae, topping the charts in both the U.S. and U.K. Eddie 9V takes the familiar classic somewhere entirely unexpected, stripping away its lush disco associations and rebuilding it as a greasy Southern soul/blues burner, driven by a deep groove and Duane Allman-inspired slide guitar. Eddie approached the track by imagining what it might have sounded like if McCrae had taken the song down to Muscle Shoals to record it with a Southern soul band.
Rather than attempt to recreate one of the most recognizable recordings of the 1970s, Eddie completely reframes it. The result is part soul, part blues, and unmistakably Eddie 9V—a fresh take that reveals the killer soul song underneath the disco classic. Recorded live, the track captures the loose, organic energy of Eddie and the band performing together in the room.
''Rock Your Baby' pushed me completely out of my comfort zone, and that's where the best stuff happens,' says Eddie 9V. 'Dan was coaching me line by line, a foot from my face, while the band learned the whole song in about twenty minutes flat. What came out of that room is pure Southern grit, and I think we found the soul song that was hiding inside that disco classic the whole time.'
'Rock Your Baby' follows 'Blowin' Up' and 'Whole Lot Coming For You,' the first singles from Down Here. 'Whole Lot Coming For You' was named a Guitar World Editors' Pick and earned Classic Rock's Track of the Week, with Classic Rock calling it 'a deliciously greasy, easy-on-the-ear Southern groove machine with a laidback funky blues kick.'
Produced by Auerbach, Down Here finds Eddie 9V expanding his Southern soul, blues, rock & roll, funk, and R&B roots through an intensely collaborative recording process at Easy Eye Sound. The album brought Eddie together with an exceptional group of musicians and songwriters, including fellow soul-blues guitarist Marcus King and veteran writers Pat McLaughlin (Bonnie Raitt, John Prine, Tanya Tucker) and Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves, Lee Ann Womack, Josh Turner).
Raised in Atlanta, Eddie 9V picked up the guitar at six and spent his early years playing everything from metal to indie rock before discovering Howlin' Wolf's legendary 1966 Newport Folk Festival performance and turning to the blues. As a teenager, he was already playing long nights in Atlanta clubs and touring outside Georgia. In 2019, he wrote, produced and released his debut album, Left My Soul In Memphis.
With 'Rock Your Baby,' Eddie 9V takes a song everyone thinks they know and makes it his own—bringing George McCrae's classic into the Southern soul territory where Eddie's music lives and breathes.
Tour Dates
SEP 12 — Morganton, NC — 44th Morganton Festival
SEP 17 — Fredericton, NB — Harvest Music Festival
SEP 18-20 — Telluride, CO — Telluride Blues & Brews Festival
OCT 8 — Fort Myers, FL — Buckingham Blues Bar
OCT 9 — Live Oak, FL — Suwannee Roots Revival
OCT 10 — Ponte Vedra Beach, FL — Ponte Vedra Concert Hall
OCT 11 — St Petersburg, FL — Jannus Live
OCT 15 — Wilmington, NC — Bowstring Brewyard
OCT 16 — Charleston, SC — Music Farm
OCT 20 — Chicago, IL — The Salt Shed (Night 1) *Rescheduled Date w/The Black Keys
OCT 21 — Chicago, IL — The Salt Shed (Night 2) *Rescheduled Date w/The Black Keys
OCT 23 — Bloomsburg, PA — Arts in Bloom @ Petit Center for the Arts
OCT 24 — Cape May, NJ — Exit Zero Jazz Festival @ Nauti Spirits Distillery
OCT 25 — Annapolis, MD — Rams Head On Stage
NOV 3-7 — Miami, FL — The Revivalists Present Otherside of Paradise • Miami to Nassau, Bahamas
NOV 11 — Knoxville, TN — Bijou Theatre
NOV 12 — Winston-Salem, NC — The Ramkat
NOV 13 — Asheville, NC — The Grey Eagle
NOV 14 — Richmond, VA — The Broadberry
DEC 3 — St Louis, MO — Delmar Hall
DEC 4 — Newport, KY — The Southgate House Revival
DEC 5 — Warrendale, PA — Jergels Rhythm Grille
DEC 6 — Washington, DC — Union Stage
DEC 10 — Nashville, TN — The Basement East
DEC 11 — Atlanta, GA — Variety Playhouse
DEC 12 — Birmingham, AL — Saturn
DEC 18 — Louisville, KY — Mercury Ballroom
DEC 19 — Columbus, OH — Skully's Music Diner
DEC 20 — Indianapolis, IND — The Vogue
Photo Credit: Alyse Gafgyn
Photo Credit: Alyse Gafgyn