A guitarist who plays and sings with an impressive degree of seasoned maturity and passion,
Marcus King delivers a hearty mixture of soul, blues, rock, and jazz that has made him a star on the blues and jam band circuits. On his debut album, 2015's
Soul Insight,
King and his band generated a powerful, guitar-based attack rooted in high-impact blues and southern soul, while 2016's
The Marcus King Band took a more eclectic approach, with the more dynamic numbers revealing a gentler aspect, showing the influence of gospel and folk. 2020's
El Dorado was
King's first album as a solo act, and put a greater emphasis on his strengths as a vocalist, and his love of blues-based classic rock of the 1970s dominated 2022's hard-edged Young Blood.
Marcus King was born in Greenville, South Carolina on March 11, 1996. His father, Marvin King, was a well-known blues guitarist in South Carolina who also played with gospel acts, and his grandfather was also a regionally popular musician.
Marcus was barely out of diapers when he first picked up a guitar, and at age eight, he started playing shows with his father. In his teens, he began playing out with his own band, juggling club gigs at night and school in the morning as he and his bandmates barnstormed with what they called "soul-influenced psychedelic Southern rock." In 2015,
the Marcus King Band --
King on guitar and lead vocals,
Alex Abercrombie on keyboards and backing vocals,
Anthony House on bass, and Jack Ryan on drums -- released their debut album,
Soul Insight.
Warren Haynes of
Gov't Mule checked the band out and liked what he heard; he tapped
the Marcus King Band to open shows for
Gov't Mule and reissued
Soul Insight on his Evil Teen Records label.
Haynes' championing of the group helped spread the news about
King's music, and he soon landed a record deal with the venerable independent label Fantasy Records. Personnel shakeups led to a new lineup of
the Marcus King Band, with
Abercrombie and
House leaving the group, while
King and Ryan were joined by Stephen Campbell on bass,
Matt Jennings on keyboards, Dean Mitchell on sax, and Justin Johnson on trumpet and trombone. The new edition of
the Marcus King Band went into Carriage House Studios in Stamford, Connecticut with
Haynes serving as producer, and cut their second album mostly live in the studio.
The Marcus King Band was released by Fantasy in October 2016, with the group touring extensively in support. A third full-length,
Carolina Confessions, arrived in 2018, landing at number two on the blues albums chart.
King became friends with fellow guitarist
Dan Auerbach, co-founder of
the Black Keys, and they teamed up to make
King's first solo album.
Auerbach produced 2020's
El Dorado, recorded in Nashville with a band comprised of veteran Music City session players, while
King put a greater emphasis on his impassioned vocal stylings along with his agile guitar work.
El Dorado was nominated for a Grammy award as Best Americana Album, and received enthusiastic reviews in the music press, while
King kept up his unrelenting touring schedule, opening for
Chris Stapleton,
Greta Van Fleet, and
Nathaniel Rateliff, and playing festival dates as well as his own headlining shows. Respected producer
Rick Rubin signed
King to his American Recordings label, and he returned to the studio with
Dan Auerbach once again in the producer's chair. 2022's Young Blood was a stripped-down, revved-up set informed by classic rock of the 1970s, and
King cut the sessions with bassist
Nick Movshon (who has played with
the Menahan Street Band and
Lee Fields & the Expressions) and drummer
Chris St. Hilaire (ex-
the London Souls) as an homage to the classic power trios of the era. ~ Mark Deming