Marcus King in Interview: “I wanted to paint my region the way I feel it”

Here is an artist who makes an impact with every release, rare but always essential, in just ten years of career. After the soulful and groovy elegance of Mood Swings (2024), Marcus King reunites with his longtime band and dives into a country-folk universe, deeply rooted in the sounds of the American South.

Darling Blue allows Marcus King to broaden his musical spectrum once more: country-folk, psychedelic rock and bursts of Motown-style R&B.

The lyrics dive into his experiences with addiction and depression, while celebrating his home state of South Carolina. It is also the first time since Carolina Confessions (2018) that he records with his touring band, reclaiming the raw energy that defines his live shows – as we saw during his 2024 European tour, including a stop at Lyon’s Transbordeur.

Meeting with an unclassifiable artist (and that’s a good thing!) …

🎤 Marcus King Interview

Hello Marcus. To begin … how did you feel during the recording sessions of Darling Blue?

During the recording sessions, I really felt at home. It was like my band and I were just working on songs to play live, which turned into an album. Our goal is always to be a kind of channel, to let the music flow through us while drawing from the elements around us.

Capricorn Studios seemed like the perfect place to record. What was the initial inspiration?

From the beginning, part of my vision was to go down to Capricorn and return to my roots. All my greatest heroes recorded there: Otis Redding, Marshall Tucker Band, Wet Willie, Charlie Daniels. My father Eddie and I went, and we were amazed to find Studio A still intact. Otis’s piano is still there, with cigarette burns on the high C. We even tried to play it, but it was in bad shape. Just its presence was inspiring. Right away, the place felt like home, and I knew it was where I had to create such a personal album.

The title, Darling Blue, refers to the Blue Ridge Mountains. Your hometown of Greenville lies at their foot. What aspects of that place did you want to highlight in the album?

Some time ago, I read East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I was inspired by how he used words to paint a vivid landscape. In the same way he described his California, I wanted to paint my region as I see and feel it. It’s a special place, with wonderful people – so many musicians in the valleys and hills who never want to leave, and I get that. This album is also my tribute to all those affected by Hurricane Helene in 2024, and a salute to the resilience of the Foothills community.

Many songs on Darling Blue pay tribute to your South Carolina roots. Was there a particular track that set the tone for the album?

I remember writing at the piano, surrounded by Tennessee pines – my own version of Brian Wilson with his sandbox piano in Malibu. I always feel most grounded and free to express my truth at that piano. The first song that came was Carry Me Home, a love song for my region and what the Blue Ridge landscape represents to me. We even took the album title from a line: “Oh, my darling Blue Ridge sky.”

Did Capricorn live up to your expectations?

Absolutely. The history is tangible in those walls. There’s a lot of magic in that room and we took all the time needed to set everything up, explore and draw from the atmosphere. Having my band with me changed everything: we hadn’t recorded together since 2018, and it was a real return to a family-oriented, organic way of working, far from the mechanical side of some studios.

“We projected films to fuel our artistic inspiration”

Why did you choose Eddie Spear as producer this time?

Eddie was an engineer on Carolina Confessions. Since then, he’s become a highly sought-after producer. He’s an accomplished musician who understands the importance of structuring a song to grab the listener, but also knows how to work as a team and capture the spirit of the moment. Thanks to that trust, the process was very relaxed and allowed me to open up more. We took unconventional approaches to capture maximum energy from each performance, and I believe that comes through on the record.

For example, on one track, I stood on a chair in the room giving directions like a conductor. Instead of being isolated in a booth, we recorded vocals organically, which made me more expressive. We also projected films (Easy Rider, Rebel Without a Cause, Giant, The Big Lebowski, etc.) to feed our artistic inspiration during recording.

On your last album, Mood Swings, you spoke very openly about your mental health. Did that also influence your writing on Darling Blue?

Writing is therapy for me, so I always work through my wounds in my lyrics. In Honky Tonk Hell, I talk about addiction, fragile sobriety, and the possibility of relapse – something many people experience, especially if you quit for someone else rather than yourself. In Die Alone, I reflect on a moment when I was at the end of my rope but decided that if I had to die, it would be on the road doing what I love. And as fate had it, the next day I met my wife, and finally found a reason to live.

Carolina Honey was written the day you met her!

Yes, it’s fascinating how two days of your life can inspire several songs. In the case of Carolina Honey, it’s the idea that an addictive personality always seeks a substitute for what once destroyed it. For me, that was my wife: as soon as I met her, she became my muse and my new drug. On recording day, everyone in the studio sang the intro with us, and that truly reflects the energy that ran through the whole album.

“I love westerns, and I wanted to write a cowboy song”

The album is full of impressive collaborations: Billy Strings on Dirt, Noah Cyrus on The Shadows, Jamey Johnson and Kaitlin Butts on Here Today, Jesse Welles on Someone Else. You also co-wrote with Midland (Pretty Petty), Hillary Lindsay (Levi’s & Goodbyes), as well as Lainey Wilson and Meg McRee (Here Today). How did all that come together?

I love westerns, and I wanted to write a cowboy song. With Nick Monson and Jamie Hartman, we wrote a story about a drifter in the Far West, and that became Dirt. It was perfect for Billy to add his guitar.

I’m also very happy to have written Here Today with my friends Lainey Wilson and Meg McRee. It was a rare moment when we were all at home, not on the road. The song was born organically, just among friends. At first we thought Lainey would sing it, but it eventually became a reflection of my nomadic lifestyle. Then we invited Jamey Johnson and Kaitlin Butts.

Kaitlin brought joyful energy, Jamey an incredible intensity that forces you to listen to every word.
For The Shadows, I wrote it with Nick Monson and Madi Yanofsky, and we wanted a voice that embodied the song’s essence. Noah Cyrus naturally came to mind, and her voice took it even further than I could have hoped.

How was the experience of Darling Blue different from everything you’ve done before?

It really felt like being at home. My band and I were just working songs like we do for the stage, and it became a record. Our goal is always to be a channel for the music. But more than ever, this album was a collective effort, made for us, for the love of creating, with all the honesty possible. We put absolutely everything we had into it, and we believe the audience will feel it and love it too.

🎧 Listen to the album “Darling Blue” on Spotify