LEARNING TO BREATHE

Eight years into his career, Marcus King has shown he has what it takes to go the distance. With Young Blood, his latest solo excursion, he does it with all six strings blazing.

- MARK MCSTEA

AT 19, MARCUS KING COULD CUT HEADS WITH THE BEST OF THEM, when he kicked-started his career in 2015 with Soul Insight, the number-eight hit debut album from his group, the Marcus King Band. So it might come as a surprise to learn that, nearly eight years later, he still spends time focusing on the basics.

“One of the main things that I work on these days is to constantly try to breathe a little more in my playing,” the electric-blues firebrand tells Guitar Player. “I try to think like a sax player — they need to take a breath. And that’s what helps the phrases and licks that you play on guitar stand out: when you take a pause between lines.”

It’s that sort of mindful approach that has guided the 26-year-old’s career over these recent years. After three albums with his Marcus King Band, King took a step in a different direction with his 2020 solo debut, El Dorado. Working along with producer and co-writer Dan Auerbach, of the Black Keys, King focused more on the songs and his singing. The result was an album of electric blues tinged with southern soul that proved he was more than a very talented fret burner — he was also a stylist who could define his own signature strain of blues.