Marcus King put his real-life blues between the grooves of ‘Mood Swings’

At a time when wellness has become a more talked-about topic in the public sphere, Marcus King has made his own musical statement via the release of “Mood Swings,” his third solo outing.

The soulful Rick Rubin-produced effort is full of songs drawing from a particularly dark time in the blues rocker’s life where he faced certain mental health challenges stoked by anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Started in 2019, this 11-song outing was interrupted by the pandemic and a toxic relationship King was emerging from before meeting his current wife, country singer Briley Hussey. When the world started to open up again, King came out of the other end of it with 2022’s “Young Blood.”

Despite the success he enjoyed with that effort, the South Carolina native was in no shape to continue the deep emotional dive the still-unrealized “Mood Swings” would require of him.

Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

Credit: Amy Harris/Invision/AP

“This album really started before “Young Blood,” and when everything opened back up, it felt like there was some pressure to get back out and get to work,” said King, who will perform in Atlanta on Friday, April 18, as part of the SweetWater 420 Fest at Pullman Yards in Kirkwood. “‘Mood Swings’ was definitely not anywhere close to being done. The album is a journey and an experience for me, and I hadn’t completed it. During that whole process of doing ‘Young Blood,’ I was really coming through a lot of substance abuse [issues]. I wasn’t entirely present when I was doing that record. When I look at that record retrospectively, I feel really detached from it. ‘Mood Swings’ is very much the truest representation of me being as honest as possible (as an artist).”

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Songs such as the title cut, “Bipolar Love,” and “Save Me” find King delving deep into his psyche and past mental health wounds. Rubin played a key role in helping King navigate and complete the album. The storied producer, who has been meditating since he was 14 and is heavily into metaphysics, provided the environment to achieve this in summer 2023 while working with King at his Malibu-based Shangri-La studio and his spread in Tuscany, Italy. The 29-year-old guitarist-singer-songwriter was grateful to go through the experience.

“A big part of the record was trying to sample ourselves in a way,” King said. “Once we had all the basic tracks done, me and Rick could sit down with them. We went through everything and tried to strip it down to its truest, most vulnerable and most honest depictions of the songs. With this subject matter, [Rick is] the only guy I could imagine handling it. He really pushed me to go deeper and deeper and to access places, traumas and memories that I didn’t even know were troublesome to me. Sometimes you have to heal before you can really talk about something, and I feel like we did that with this record. The journey within was a really fascinating one because he’s all about putting yourself first and the audience second, and I didn’t really understand that concept until now.”

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With all the recording done, King is on tour now. Among the early gigs he’s played was a guest spot on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” and a recent slot performing at the Grand Ole Opry. The latter was a special show given that Rubin reached out to King in 2019 after seeing a clip of him performing on that hallowed stage.

“The Grand Ole Opry is like going to see your grandparents pretty much,” King said with a laugh. “I try to go by there as much as possible, and they’re always really sweet and really welcoming as possible. You don’t go there and smoke reefer in the dressing room. You’re on your best behavior and go out and play your best songs. It’s always cool to go back there. That stage just carries a lot of weight for me. You go there and you’re surrounded by people like Vince Gill and the Marty Stuarts of the world. Vince Gill, to me, is the closest thing I can get to George Jones, who is my hero and his hero.”

CONCERT PREVIEW

Marcus King

9 p.m. Friday, April 18 at SweetWater 420 Fest. Fest hours: 1:30-11 p.m. Friday, April 18, noon-11 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, April 19-20. $80 daily admission, $195 weekend general admission. Pullman Yards, 225 Rogers St. NE, Atlanta. sweetwater420fest.com.

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Dave Gil de Rubio

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