When you hear the guitar, you know instantly that it is in the hands of Marcus King. No one in the blues or Southern rock pantheon ever played with the same soulful, dripping, intricate horsepower.
Fans felt this intensity from the beginning. Only one of his albums, whether solo or with the Marcus King Band peaked lower than no. 2 on the Billboard Blues charts – the band’s 2015 debut, at no. 8. Each track reverberates as if they have just plugged in and started to jam.
“I’d rather a track have imperfections but feel live, than for it to be polished and neat,” King explains. “Art isn’t meant to be perfect. It’s meant to have flaws and imperfections. That’s what makes it real.”
King’s music reaches through the lineage of American roots music with great reverence, yet somehow makes an impression all its own. And for the first time since 2018’s Carolina Confessions, King has the band back together with a new studio album.
“To my ear, Darling Blue is almost a continuation of the story we only began to tell with Carolina Confessions – but with seven more years of experience,” King observes. “This album feels like us.”
Even while touring and through two hit solo albums, King says the plan had always been to record a fourth MKB title. He credits producer Eddie Spear for bringing the right energy to the studio. The band – King describes them as five guys bent on defining a live performance – also proved too well-oiled from the road to sputter after a seven-year recording gap. But there is always the guitar, driving toward places unknown.
King’s journey with the instrument began professionally at age 11. His father, Marvin King, is a blues legend in the deep South. Early on the younger King – a devotee of B.B. King, the Allman Brothers and country legends – was labeled a “phenom.” But King knows he still has places to go.
“There’s always so much left to learn, especially when you hear monsters like Isaiah Sharkey or Julian Lage out there,” he says. “But what is important is that the instrument can be your voice.”
The album will be released on Sept. 26. But the Marcus King Band is live on tour now.
THE MARCUS KING BAND performs at 7pm Tuesday, July 29. Golden State Theatre, 417 Alvarado St., Monterey. $77-$107. 640-1070, goldenstatetheatre.com.
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