MARCUS KING GOES SOLO
MARCUS KING IS NOT A BLUESMAN. HE MIGHT PLAY SOME BLUESY RIFFS and know his way around a fuzzed-out pentatonic solo — but Marcus King is definitely not a bluesman. Just ask him. “I never called myself a blues artist,” he says in his soft Southern drawl. “Any time you see it written down, it’s another man’s words. It’s because for me I think the authentic nature of the blues, only a few people truly hold that. I’m an admirer of the craft. Someone like Eric Clapton really holds the title because he’s such a reservationist to the music and he goes through his fair share of shit as well. Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Kimbrough, those are blues men to me, and I don’t hold a candle. The way I see it is, I’m an American musician and blues happens to be an American artform. For me, I’m encompassing all these different styles of music and just hoping somebody will listen.”
“I’M NOT REINVENTING THE WHEEL. I JUST THINK IT’S IMPORTANT TO DO SOMETHING ON YOUR OWN, AND WHEN YOU COME BACK TO YOUR UNIT, WHICH FOR ME IS THE MARCUS KING BAND, YOU HAVE A DEEPER APPRECIATION FOR IT AND YOU MISS THOSE GUYS.”
On his new album, El Dorado, the South Carolina-born King backs up his claim, dipping his toes into country, acoustic balladeering, soul and rock ‘n’ roll.
When I get King on the phone, it’s a few weeks before the only way he knows how.
