Marcus Kings True Blues

He used to be an insecure outcast. Now the guitarist is introducing Southern rock to a new generation

- JONATHAN BERNSTEIN

MARCUS KING

Six years ago, Marcus King felt lost. A long-haired, pot-smoking kid going to school in the small town of Piedmont, South Carolina, he struggled to fit in — he hated sports and missed enough classes to nearly be expelled for truancy. “I have nothing good to say about Piedmont, no good memories,’ says the guitarist. “They were trying to put me away, trying to put me into a juvenile detention center, trying to shave my head, put me ina jail. And I was like, ‘I didn’t do anything. I just missed a couple days of class.”