Marcus King today shared a new song “Beautiful Stranger.” Timeless vintage soul with shimmering steel and haunting gospel harmonies, the song features Marcus’ rasping vocals which take centre stage on his solo debut record, El Dorado. The release has established him as one of the most soulful voices of his generation and is set to be his most critically acclaimed yet. El Dorado, produced by Dan Auerbach will be released next week on Fantasy Records, on Jan 17 2020. Marcus will make his Jimmy Kimmel Live debut on Jan 15.
Discussing the song, Marcus stated, "Beautiful Stranger is a story about longing, searching for love. We tried to paint a picture of a dim-lit bar, lost souls finding one another before last call."
The new track is written by 23-year-old vocal and guitar phenomenon Marcus, alongside Dan Auerbach and Paul Overstreet. It features drummer Gene Chrisman, keyboardist Bobby Wood and bassist Dave Roe, legendary musicians who have graced classic recordings by the likes of Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.
The album’s highly anticipated first single, “The Well” premiered recently via Rolling Stone Magazine who featured him on the cover of The Mix in their latest issue. Rolling Stone’s insightful profile explored Marcus’ fascinating story which saw him initially struggle to fit in at school and even faced the possibility of spending time in a juvenile detention centre for truancy. Talking to Rolling Stone, Marcus stated, “They were trying to put me away, trying to put me into a juvenile detention center, trying to shave my head, put me in jail. And I was like, ‘I didn’t do anything. I just missed a couple of days of class”
Marcus overcame these challenges, using music as a therapy, helping him deal with issues around mental health and loss to become a professional guitarist at eleven years old. He discovered in his teens after a video of him performing at Norman’s Rare Guitars went viral, Marcus King is a fourth-generation musician who followed in his family’s footsteps. His grandfather was a country guitarist, and his father continues to perform live. King recently made his debut at The Grand Ole Opry, playing his grandfather’s guitar. The moment was recently captured in a video documentary, which can be watched here.
El Dorado, a contemporary exploration of southern R&B, country-soul, classic rock and blues, has widespread support from tastemakers American Songwriter, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Flood Magazine and Paste and is receiving dedicated support at Triple A radio, including KCRW. The Well’s cinematic video also premiered via Relix with hundreds of thousands of views in weeks. Marcus is currently on a 75+ date world tour in the US, Australia, Japan, Europe, and more, with The Marcus King Band. Multiple dates sold out including The Beacon Theatre in New York which was profiled by The New York Times.
Marcus has also found time to meet Bill Murray, Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton, who proclaimed himself a fan of Marcus at his Crossroads Festival. He has developed his own signature guitar with Gibson, created a signature amp with Orange Amps, appear on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, perform with Chris Stapleton on his US arena tour as well as curate his own namesake festival - The Marcus King Band Family Reunion.
El Dorado will be released January 17, 2020 on Fantasy Records in association with Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound. Available to pre-order now. Please visit: https://mk.lnk.to/eldorado
The Marcus King Band founded in Greenville, South Carolina in 2013, is Marcus’ honored foundation. Drummer Jack Ryan, bass player Stephen Campbell, trumpeter/trombonist Justin Johnson, sax/steel guitarist Dean Mitchell along with Marcus—bring an irreplaceable combination of commitment, craft and soul to their work and are one of the hardest working bands today.
THE MARCUS KING BAND ‘EL DORADO’ TOUR DATES
JAN 7-12 - Jam Cruise 2020 - Marcus King solo, Miami, FL, United States
JAN 24 - Panic En La Playa Nueve, Puerto Alvaro Obregon, Mexico
JAN 26 SUN - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre
JAN 27 MON - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up
JAN 28 TUE - San Diego, CA - Music Box
JAN 30 THR - Las Vegas, NV - Brooklyn Bowl - Las Vegas
JAN 31 FRI - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre
FEB 1 SAT - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst
FEB 4 TUE - San Francisco, CA - The Fillmore
FEB 6 THR - Sacramento, CA - Ace Of Spades
FEB 7 FRI - Eugene, OR - McDonald Theatre
FEB 8 SAT - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
FEB 9 SUN - Vancouver, BC, Canada - The Commodore Ballroom
FEB 11 TUE - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre
FEB 13 THR - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
FEB 14 FRI - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater
FEB 15 SAT - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
FEB 21 FRI - Leeds, UK - The Wardrobe
FEB 22 SAT - Glasgow, UK - Oran More
FEB 23 SUN - Dublin, IE - Whelans
FEB 25 TUE - London, UK - Electric Ballroom
FEB 26 WED - Manchester, UK - Academy 3
FEB 27 THR - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms
FEB 28 FRI - Bristol, UK - Thekla
MAR 1 SUN - Paris, FR - L’Alhambra
MAR 2 MON - Brussels, BE - Ancienne Belgique
MAR 3 TUE - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
MAR 4 WED - Enschede, NL - Metropool Enschede
MAR 5 THR - Cologne, DE - Kantine
MAR 7 SAT - Berlin, DE - Heimathafen Neukölln
MAR 8 SUN - Hamburg, DE - Mojo Club
MAR 9 MON - Copenhagen, DK - Vega Jr.
MAR 20 FRI - Biloxi, MS - Mississippi Coast Coliseum - with Chris Stapleton
MAR 21 - Birmingham, AL - BJCC Concert Hall - with Chris Stapleton
APR 5 SUN - Tokyo, JP - Billboard Live Tokyo
APR 7 TUE - Osaka, JP - Billboard Live Osaka
APR 10-12 - Byron Bay Bluesfest - Tyagarah, Australia
APR 13 MON - Metro Theatre - Sydney, NSW, Australia
APR 15 WED - Croxton Park Hotel - Melbourne, VIC, Australia
APR 16 THR - Powerstation - Auckland, New Zealand
APR 22 - Toledo, OH - Huntington Center - with Chris Stapleton
APR 23 - Columbus, OH - Schottenstein Center - with Chris Stapleton
APR 24-26 - Atlanta, GA - Sweetwater 420 Festival
APR 30 - New Orleans, LA - The Civic Theatre
MAY 1 - New Orleans, LA - The Civic Theatre
MAY 2 - New Orleans, LA - The Civic Theatre
JUN 21 - Landgraaf, NL - Pinkpop Festival
