Few guitarists strut their stuff with more swagger than Marcus King, a Greenville, South Carolina, native, who, at 28, is building quite the legacy. He's been around for a decade, but King's last three records — 2020's El Dorado, 2022's Young Blood and 2024's Mood Swings – have seen him go from wunderkind to guitar hero.
But what's most interesting about King is his vulnerability and honesty when it comes to who he is beyond the confines of six strings. The track listing of Mood Swings – which features tell-all titles like F*ck My Life Up, Soul it Screams, Bipolar Love and the title track itself – paints a picture of an artist standing precariously close to the edge while balanced against escalating expectations.
But King, who, despite the mounting pressure inherent in the music biz, manages to rise above. And that's just one reason he's on the shortlist when the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd come calling to jam.
I played Gary's solo because that's the solo I grew up with and learned. I saw a twinkle in his eye when I played that
“They'd [Lynyrd Skynyrd] done a PBS thing and had a bunch of friends sit in," he says. “They asked me what song I wanted to do, and I said, ‘We gotta do Saturday Night Special!'
“Gary [Rossington] wasn't feeling too good at the time, but he was at rehearsal, and I played Gary's solo because that's the solo I grew up with and learned. I saw a twinkle in his eye when I played that.
“When we played it for the show, he came over and played it with me, and 12-year-old me was just floating on a cloud. He and I connected in this real spiritual way, and through divine intervention – it was like our souls were tangled in the astral realm. He left that night; that was his last gig, he passed away shortly thereafter.”
Anyone who has seen King on tour since Mood Swings' April release can tell he's taken the lessons learned from Rossington and company to heart. For now, he's free and easy on stage and seems to have been given a reprieve from the struggles associated with the rigors of recording and touring.
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But that doesn't mean he's unwilling to look back, if only for a moment, as he recently checked in with Guitar World to run through the six riffs that influenced him most.
1. Manic Depression – Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
“The first one that comes to mind is this one — and maybe due to the content of the song. Manic depression is something I struggle with, actually, so it just kinda rang true to me. It’s just another one of those all-around great riffs. It's simple enough to where it's not over-complicated, and it's just so fucking cool.”
2. Thirty Pieces of Silver – Marvin King (1998)
“My dad put out an album in 1998 called The Calling that was just really, really bangin'. He had this instrumental called Thirty Pieces of Silver. It's just such a heavy riff, and it was a Christian album; it was my dad's re-entrance into rock 'n' roll, and that song – I was like, 'That's so metal!'”
3. Saturday Night Special – Lynyrd Skynyrd (1975)
“When I was a kid, my father still had a straight job working 9 to 5, so he'd leave me with a record. Not necessarily as homework, but as something we'd kinda go over later.
One of those songs was Saturday Night Special, and you know, when it finally drops, the verse is just so heavy, and it's got this gut-bustin', almost like a Mountain riff played with three guitar players. They had tremendous restraint in giving the song what it needed. When it finally drops into the groove, it's so welcomed.”
4. Take the Highway – Marshall Tucker Band (1973)
“Toy Caldwell was just another great riff writer. One of my favorite things they wrote was a tune called Take the Highway. When the guitar solo kicks in, it's just funky. And [George] McCorkle is playing a seventh chord against that minor three, so there's that tension — and I love tension. Musical tension, that is!”
5. Give it Up or Turnit a Loose – James Brown (1969)
“I really like [Phelps] ‘Catfish’ [Collins] from James Brown’s band. Just that kinda thing… using the guitar, ultimately, rhythmically, because there was another guitar player playing chords [demonstrates the interwoven chords and riffs]. I love that. Whenever the guitar becomes second nature, that's what you want.”
6. Don't Want You No More – Allman Brothers Band (1969)
“This is one of the first tunes I just really dove into – and I learned it off an LP by moving the needle back and trying to pick up all these subtleties of Dickey Betts and Duane Allman's playing. It was a King Curtis tune, and it went like this [plays opening riff].
“That really shaped my approach because I had a three-piece band when I was in middle school and I was trying to cover the music of a group of that size, figure out how to fill as much space as possible and pay reverence to the song. I'd say that was a really big one for me.”
For more from the burgeoning blues rock talent, check out Total Guitar’s full interview with Marcus King, around the release of Mood Swings, earlier this year.
