Article & Photos: Jim Summaria
Marcus King/ photo: Jim Summaria
Marcus King at the Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI, September 26, 2024
Marcus King is a young man but sings and plays guitar like an old soul. He puts his heart into every vocal phrasing and guitar note. He's had some pain in his life struggling with drugs and alcohol but he is no longer drowning, but swimming along beautifully. His new album Mood Swings has songs that tell his story of self-salvation. But more about that later.
Marcus King learned musically from the best. His dad Marvin King was a bluesman and Marcus began playing with his dad's band at age 8. At 11, he played on his dad's album. Marcus studied jazz theory at the Fine Arts Center in his hometown of Greenville, South Carolina with Steve Watson. He listened intently to Eric Clapton, Robin Trower, Duane Allman, B.B. King and Waylon Jennings. He is a big fan of the Marshall Tucker Band, too. King's music is a combination of all of his influences, blues, southern rock, country and a little bit of jazz.
He started out as the Marcus King Band but his last 3 albums are all solo efforts, El Dorado in 2020, Youngblood in 2022 and the aforementioned Mood Swings this year. Mood Swings has four very important songs on the album which he played at the Riverside Theater show. The opulent historic venue, built in 1928 alongside the Milwaukee River, is not unlike Chicago’s venerable Auditorium Theater.
The soulful "Save Me" is a hopeful song about a person with a broken heart who can learn that things will get better. In concert King will put chills up your spine by his emotional vocal.
The very bluesy "F***ed My Life Up Again" is about emotional abuse from a bad relationship. Here King held the crowd spellbound as he poured his heart out on the guitar and as well as his vocal.
A highlight of the show was the rocking "Lie, Lie, Lie" which got the crowd moving to the groove.
But the song that really tells the story about where Marcus King is musically today is "Delilah." With a vocal reminiscent of a young Gregg Allman and a soaring guitar solo it is the type of song you just don't want to end. The song is about allowing yourself to love and be loved.
His album Mood Swings had King working with famed producer Rick Rubin who has worked with such diverse artists as the Beastie Boys, Metallica, Johnny Cash and Aerosmith. Rubin brought out something more deep and mature in Marcus King. The album is about King's personal exploration of the depths of despair to salvation in the name of love. And in his case the love of a good woman, his wife, Briley Hussey.
As the saying goes, behind every great man there's a great woman. And King’s greatness was on full display on that Wisconsin night when he mesmerized over a thousand fans with a soulful performance that came straight from the heart.
Jim Summaria began professionally photographing rock concerts in 1973 at the age of 19 when he became the staff photographer for the Chicago rock concert promoter Flip Side Productions. Jim's photos have been published in numerous books, magazines and CDs. His rock ‘n’ roll photos have been viewed at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum and Hall of Fame on Rt.66 and the Grammy Awards. Jim and writer Mark Plotnick co-authored the books Classic Rock: Photographs From Yesterday & Today and the October 2024 release ‘70s Chicagoland Rock Concerts.
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