There's a story about Marcus King that bears repeating. When he was a child, about 10 years old, his dad, Marvin King, a blues musician, bought Marcus his own Fender stratocaster to keep him from playing Marvin's guitar. Marvin showed his son how to play Sweet Home Alabama, the anthem of southern rock'n'roll.
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When Marvin came home one day, Marcus told him he'd learned it. Marvin told him that was great, then Marcus told him he'd taught himself to play the guitar chords on the entire Lynnyrd Skynnyrd album (Second Helping, released 1974), in one day.
Now 22, King is fast becoming a modern blues legend. He will make his first appearance in Australia in April, with his band, playing at the 30th annual Bluesfest in Byron Bay over the Easter weekend.
King, raised mostly in Greenville, South Carolina, had his first band at age 12, and ever since, he's drawn attention from musicians who want to play with him.
What was he listening to as a kid?
"As a kid I was introverted, I like shit that snuck up on you.
"The Allman Brothers would be right up there. [Jimi] Hendrix. Otis Redding. Janis Joplin. It kind of jumps up and grabs you, kind of throttles you."
Warren Haynes, a southern legend himself, caught a King performance when the kid was teenager and quickly acted, signing him to his label and backing his tours. As a long-time member of the Allman Brothers band, he knew the sound of southern rock and clearly identified King had it in his DNA.
"These musicians were giants to me," King says of the likes of Allman Brothers Band and Ronnie Van Zant.
"I was just as taken back by local musicians that I had heard stories about from my father. When I was a kid I didn't read Hansel and Gretel as much as listen to those stories from my father. I wanted to have my own stories. I do now, and hope to have more to come."
The pace is relentless. King reckons he was on the road for more than 250 days last year. This year is looking the schedule is looking just as fierce: three shows in Tokyo and five in Australia almost look like breather compared to crisscrossing America for festival slots from California to Louisiana, Wisconsin to West Virginia.
Whatever the schedule, King seems ready. He's grown up fast, moving from South Carolina to Nashville a few years ago to immerse himself in the music scene. That move played a part in Goodbye Carolina, a song on his 2018 album Carolina Confessions (yes, three albums by age 22). "I was a broken man in my own hometown," he sings, grieving both the move away and the loss a friend by suicide. "I hate to leave but I hope you know where I'm going I'll be seeing you."
"Anywhere you are, you can feel trapped," King says. "That song was about that, about also a good friend of mine who committed suicide. Nobody really saw it coming. The last place he lived was South Carolina. Feeling trapped and lonely had a completely different meaning than what I was feeling."
NOT PROMISED TOMORROW
But 2019 is a bigger year in other ways. King says he's got a "little more time to focus on some other projects". The highlights include touring with Chris Stapleton, and coming to Australia.
King's got no plans to rest any time soon. He's fully aware Duane Allman died at 24, and has been quoted as saying, "We're not promised tomorrow".
Where does he expect to be in five years?
"I'm trying to figure it out myself," he says. "I'm really excited people want to go on that journey with me. I'd like to focus on songwriting, write something bigger than yourself, something that will stick around longer than yourself . . . like getting better every day.
"What i am really happy about is the comfort level I‘ve got to with singing and songwriting. I always felt comfortable with a guitar. Most recently, this is the first album [Carolina Confessions], where I am just as confident with my singing and songwriting as with guitar playing . . .
"I guess I want evolve as much as I can as all around . . ."
(The Marcus King Band has a Bluesfest sideshow on April 15 at the Oxford Art Factory in Sydney.)
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