Marcus King with his Gibson ES-345. “I listened to any big, trio-sounding group I could get my hands on and just blared it at my place by the lake,” he says
ARENAS DON’T RATTLE like they used to. Or, at least that’s the premise guitar phenom Marcus King took into Nashville’s Easy Eye Sound when he cut Young Blood, his second solo album. “I wanted to take it back to Cream at Madison Square Garden,” the 26-year-old tells Guitar World. “Just really crank the amps and do a rock ’n’ roll record.”
In an era when quiet stages and in-ear monitors are making rock music safer than ever, there’s something to be said for diming a guitar amp and letting the chips fall where they may. And in 2021, King was ready for a new beginning.
On the heels of the Grammy-nominated, his 2020 paean to Seventies soul music, King found himself at the end of a bad relationship. As his personal life spiraled out of control, he was able to rein it back, thanks in part to the musical journey that led to.
