Watch: Marcus King Plays Solo Acoustic and Details Rick Rubin Collaboration in KXT Live Session
In the final stretch of an incredible year or touring, recording and releasing music, Marcus King has gifted his-ever growing fans an early holiday present with a live session for KXT. In an intimate sit-down for the North Texas Triple-A station, King reflected on his Grammy-nominated third solo studio album Mood Swings with acoustic treatments of three standout tracks and commentary on his story. Selected by interviewer La Bell, the artist presented “Save Me,” “Bipolar Love” and “Inglewood Motel (Halestorm),” proving that he’s more than capable of making a strong impression without the signature Rick Rubin studio shine that steered King into his bold new direction.
Between tracks, King spoke on his old soul, his sobriety and work with 1 Million Strong, his mental health journey and his working relationship with Rubin. As he set up for his second song, King detailed the ins and outs of their process, sharing, “Me and Rick sat around and—well he lied around. Rick really likes to have a good lay down, which I respect about him. So I’d try to match his energy, and we’d be laying on adjacent couches and just listening to music, and we would listen to everything under the sun.
“Then we would listen to the demos that I brought in,” King continues, “songs that I had written in preparation for the recording process, and a lot of them he liked, a lot of them he didn’t like. He put me in the writing process for like 6 months, and we ended up using maybe one percent of that, you know. He’s really interesting that way. But he wanted really just the most honest, no use of metaphor, just really direct lyrically, and he wanted the lyrical content of this record to be the modern component that was accompanying kind of a “throwback” sound—which I don’t like that, terminology but for lack of a better term it is more throwback. So the lyrical content in [“Bipolar Love”] was the one that kind of sent us down that journey what the whole record turned into, which was a kind of love letter to mental health from me.”
King’s radio date arrived as he winds through his “Intimate Acoustic Evenings” tour, comprising 17 small-room stops across the South, East and Central regions of the country. He’ll return to the stage tonight for a set at Shreveport, La.’s Louisiana Grandstand, then cross through Little Rock, Ark. tomorrow before concluding his year of touring with a set at The Caverns in Pelham, Tenn. on Dec. 21.
King will open up 2025 with a series of 12 intimate collaborative shows alongside Chris Dave at Blue Note New York from Jan. 14-19, featuring a third seat to be alternately held by freak-funk bassist MonoNeo and vaunted R&B guitarist Isaiah Sharkey. After this, he’ll stage four more “Intimate Acoustic Evenings” shows with longtime Marcus King Band guitarist Drew Smithers through the Mountain States, then support Chris Stapleton on an eight-stop tour of Australia and New Zealand. Down the line, fans can find the road warrior on the 27-stop Experience Hendrix Tour and the newly-announced 16-stop Marcus King Band Goes to School: The Tour, which will keep him busy through mid-May. There’s little doubt that many more shows will follow
Watch King’s KXT live session in full here. For more information on King’s new album and endless tours, visit marcuskingofficial.com.
Read King’s Relix cover story here.
