Marcus King.
Photographed by [Bil Brown](https://www.instagram.com/bilbrown/?hl=en).
Picking up his first guitar at the age of 3 or 4, some might say a solo project from [Marcus King](https://www.instagram.com/marcuskingband/) has been a long time coming. He’d go on to become a professional musician at the age of 11, begin his own self-named band not too long after in 2013, and eventually, he’d end up here: on the brink of a new era, the solo era. With the help of musician and producer Dan Auerbach and many other artist’s he regards as legends, King’s debut solo-album “El Dorado” melds hometown influences of classic rock, blues and country-soul to create what feels like an intimate tour through the mind of the 23-year old prodigy. And now expanding beyond his well established skills as a musician, King’s voice is being given the front seat; vulnerable lyrics on loss and mental health are grounded in the electric-blues atmosphere that we only got a taste of on his first single - “The Well.”
Now far from his home in Nashville, which the artist notes as a constant source of inspiration for his craft, we got to touch bases with King during a trip to LA, where his experimental style and innovative sound melt seamlessly into the pulse of the city.
**I’m curious to know a bit about the moments that lead up to this point, releasing your first solo album. What pushed you to pursue your own route?**
(Dan) Auerbach approached me with the idea of doing a solo record. It had crossed my mind before but I never thought that it would happen the way that it did. You know, him approaching me with the idea and us working so closely on it. The band that we had working on it, too, all these living legends came in and hopped on the record, I mean these are people I’ve always looked up to, we’ve got some heavy hitters.
Marcus King.
Photographed by [Bil Brown](https://www.instagram.com/bilbrown/?hl=en).
**I mean, it’s fitting, the streets are calling you somewhat of a skilled guitarist yourself. How long exactly have you been playing?**
\[laughs\] My whole life has been around the guitar. My father was a guitar player, and my grandfather was a guitar player and singer, and he played fiddle, my uncle played guitar, and my other uncle played bass, so I was always surrounded by it, it was always in my life. The first guitar I remember, I was about 3 or 4, its my first cognitive memory of coming across a guitar in my father’s office.
It ended up being given away to some family or friend and it hurt me because it had such deep spiritual meaning being not just the first guitar I remember, but one of my first memories in general. They later found it and surprised me with it when I moved to Nashville, and that’s a Epiphone El Dorado. Between that and a Cadillac El Doarado when I moved to Nashville, and Nashville is kinda like my El Dorado, so. It’s that city of gold thing that you’re always chasing. The reminder to to always stay on your toes and move toward your dreams and ambitions. Nashville is a town, kind of like LA, where you can feel the buzz.
**That’s how we got the name for the album, right?**
Well It all kinda happened serendipitously. It was initially gonna be called _The Well_, then we were gonna call the record _Young Man’s Dream,_ and none of it was really resonating with me. So when I saw the guitar, and it being an El Dorado, it all kinda just clicked.
**I’ve been wanting to ask, did you really make 12 songs for the album in just 3 days?**
18 actually! Well, recording the songs, we spent two weeks writing the record, and then when we got in with the band, we’d play em our work tape, and they’d write us a chart. Then all ten of us would go out and cut the song down, and it’d be finished. It was such a large band that there wasn’t much need for overdubs so, it was all pretty much said and done by the time we got through the track list. 18 songs, three days, and then they mixed it.
Marcus King.
Photographed by [Bil Brown](https://www.instagram.com/bilbrown/?hl=en).
**Some of the songs on the album touch on really intimate subjects of loss and mental health, can you speak to the role that vulnerability plays in the music?**
It’s the only way I know how to do it. I think it’s important to completely bear your soul, and let people have an insight to who you really are. I do little things to protect a little of myself, like wear sunglasses. \[lifts sunglasses\] That’s my one thing I do to keep a little of myself, they’re a window to the soul you know, but with my music I like to be completely transparent and as vulnerable as possible. It’s kinda my form of therapy for people to listen and hear what I need to say.
**On the topic of your glasses, I love your style, can you tell me a little bit about what you’re wearing and your fashion sense?**
It’s all kind of a mixed bag of things that i’ve been into. I think I’ve always had a little bit of an out-of-the-box style. Even when i was in middle school, I was really into bell bottom jeans and lots of beads and stuff like that so, I was really taken in by the Haight Ashbury kinda counter-culture. It’s something that i’d read about a lot. Thats where a lot of my style is derived from I guess. My grandfather was a country musician and he taught me the importance of a good pair of boots. You know, it’s pulled from a lot of different places. And my hat, My friend Charlie Overbey, he’s a great musician and really good hat maker. He’s got a company called Lone Hawk Hats, and we’ve been working together for a few years. When I was starting out, I wanted to do things that would give people the devices to remember me. People won’t always remember your name, but I wore a big hat, a big red guitar, and I always wore red shoes.
**We’re fresh into new year so I’ve got to ask, are there any new year’s resolutions you’re working on?**
I’ve decided to curse less this year, I don’t know, it just felt right. And I want to try to live a little bit more. I wanna experience a bit more when i’m out in these different cities, seeing more of what they have to offer. Because we tend to be on the road so often that I could tell you what Every Holiday Inn looks like, and I just want to see more of the cities that I’ve planned. It gives you a better understanding of who you're playing for too.
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