Marcus King Preaches His Rock And Roll Truth On ‘Darling Blue’

For his new album, Marcus King wrote a love letter to the Blue Ridge Mountains.

King grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, a town tucked into the foothills of the vast Appalachian range. A fourth-generation musician, he studied stories – like John Steinbeck’s East of Eden – that capture a place and the people who give it a spirit.

“It’s dedicated to the area of the country that I come from,” said King, a Grammy-nominated rock ‘n’ roll songwriter who mixes country, blues and soul influences as frontman of the rollicking Marcus King Band. He continued, “That area of the country is really where my heart sings, so I just wanted to do something worthy of that.”

Listeners hear the result on Darling Blue, a collection of standout tunes that straddle the line between old-school rock rowdiness and time-tested country twang. It’s the first Marcus King Band album since 2018, following three solo releases from the singer-songwriter.

Recording At Capricorn Studios

To cut the album, he and the band decamped to Macon, Georgia, to record at Capricorn Studios – the same room where The Allman Brothers Band and Marshall Tucker Band tracked songs that would lay the foundation of a Southern rock sound still celebrated today.

King and the band enlisted Nashville record-maker Eddie Spear (whose credits include Zach Bryan and Sierra Ferrell, among others) to produce Darling Blue. The album came to life after a handful of back-and-forth sessions between time on the road. The process took about two years; during that period “there’s a lot of growth that happened,” King said.

‘Darling Blue’

Like the best of King’s catalog, Darling Blue doesn’t shy from tough-to-tackle topics. The songs wrestle with hard-fought sobriety, capture days filled with anxiety and nights of sticky-sweet love. He takes on wanderlust and asks the age-old question of what may happen when our time on earth begins to run thin.

“My approach to music has been just doing what the song wants,” King said, adding: “We just wanted everything to be as organic as possible. I think the writing process was an extension of that.”

In the studio, King and company played movies on a projector, hoping to ignite a cinematic spirit during the sessions. Films in rotation included Midnight Cowboy and The Big Lebowski, among others.

“We just wanted to tap into anything we could to find the creativity,” King said.

Songs like the neon-soaked single “Honky Tonk Hell,” speaker-splitting standout “Levi’s and Goodbyes” and blues-soaked showstopper “No Room For Blue” showcase King’s role as a torchbearer for ground-shaking Southern rock. But Darling Blue isn’t just a collection of head-turning riffs; King unplugs for a moment of reflective folk-country storytelling on “Die Alone”; he offers touches of fiddle and mandolin for gooey love tune “Heartlands”; and dips into familiar soul-funk influences on “Carolina Honey.”

The album includes a handful of guest appearances, including folk truth-teller Jesse Welles, pop singer Noah Cyrus and bluegrass stronghold Billy Strings. Additionally, King enlisted Jamey Johnson and Kaitlin Butts – a one-two country music punch – for “Here Today,” a song he co-wrote with Nashville hitmaker Lainey Wilson and singer-songwriter Meg McRee.

“I’m so thrilled, especially to hear Jamey do his thing,” King said. “I was lucky enough to be in the studio to hear Kaitlin do her parts. We were just excited that they both agreed to do it. My wife told me about Kaitlin, like, two years ago. It felt like one of those diamonds in the rough. We knew about her before she had all this massive success. Having her on the record really meant a lot to me.”

He continued, “And Jamey, he’s been part of the family for a long time. He officiated me and my wife’s wedding. Having him on the track meant a great deal to us.”

As for which song is King’s favorite on Darling Blue? That goes to the aforementioned “Heartlands,” a co-write with trusted Luke Combs collaborator Johnathan Singleton.

“It’s all about my wife. It talks about my grandfather, talks about where he’s laid to rest,” King said. He added,“It’s always easiest to tell the truth.”