Marcus King – El Dorado
Snakefarm Records – 17 January 2020
Having fronted the South Carolina southern rock/blues Marcus King Band for three albums and two EPs, the 23-year-old recently made the move from Greenville to Nashville and into a solo career with this debut collection that, working alongside co-writer Dan Auerbach and featuring session legends drummer Gene Chrisman and keyboard player Bobby Wood, also sees a shift from his high octane blues-rock to a more country soul style, marrying rowdy electric guitar with keening pedal steel.
Indeed, the album opens in country mode with the acoustic picked rhythmic lope of Young Man’s Dream, King’s raspy voice sounding like a young Rod Stewart, before the drums and electric guitars kick in. Chrisman then steps up the plate to lay down the beat for The Well with its fuzzy, electric-blues riffing and growly lyrics about hard work and tough times making you who you are, or as he puts it, “if you want a drink of water got to go to the well”. The mood shifts again as things get soulful with the organ-backed slow sway romance of Wildflowers & Wine where you can hear the likes of Redding and Nelson in his delivery.
He brings a similar mood to the gospel-coloured, falsetto-voiced slow burn of the gorgeous Beautiful Stranger while a more 70s soul groove can be found on album closer Love Song, the itchy rhythm of One Day She’s Here and Break’s strings and vibes-accompanied balladry.
There’s a Latin-flavoured shuffle on Sweet Mariona with its Texicali country guitar shades, twang and steel while Turn It Up and Say You Will break out the blues distortion pedals for reminders of his more raucous moments and, Mickey Raphael blowing harmonica and Mike Rojas on piano and clavinet, Too Much Whiskey gets the country funk party on in goodtime style. He winds up in a moody late night fug with No Pain, electric guitar blues solo adding to the soulful atmosphere before things fade away on another laid back solo.
At one point, he sings: “You ever hear a song/Come on that radio/Make you wanna reach over/Grab the dial/Roll it and turn it on up?”; this album makes you want to do just that.