Marcus King

2025 was the year of the King, thanks to his band's landmark guitar-loaded album, Darling Blue

- ALAN PAUL

DARLING BLUE IS the Marcus King Band's first album since 2018's Carolina Confessions. This might sound weird considering we're talking about a crew that has been a dedicated band of road warriors since their 2014 debut, Soul Insight. But King's last three albums have been solo efforts recorded with producers Dan Auerbach and Rick Rubin and their respective session musicians. While King says he learned a lot working with these seasoned pros, he was eager to get back to working with his road band. Emphasizing this back-to-his-roots approach, King recorded Darling Blue at Macon, Georgia's Capricorn Studios, where the Allman Brothers Band and many others recorded landmark Southern music.

"It was really healing to be back in that room - and just to be in Macon, a city with a lot of magic and musical history," King says.

Darling Blue represents a huge leap in King's songwriting, with confessional lyrics and earnest love songs that never sound contrived. Musically, it shows King and company leaning into country sounds, with plenty of acoustic guitars and fiddles. The King band has toured in recent years with Chris Stapleton and the Zac Brown Band, and they're hitting the road with Dwight Yoakam and Eric Church. Guests on Darling Blue also include bluegrass king Billy Strings and country crooners Jamey Johnson and Kaitlin Butts. There's also less shredding on Darling Blue, but you'll still find plenty of tasty playing by King and guitarist Drew Smithers.

"We tried to play to fit the songs, and I'm proud everyone did that so well," King says.