True. In all fairness, when you are that good of a guitar player it’s hard to get a rep for your singing voice.

Just saw Marcus King Band (now the third time) in Port Chester. The show was pure fire and a great time.

Setlist: Too Late, Working Man, Turn It Up, Fraudulent Waffle, Mountain Jam, Beautiful Stranger, One Day She’s Here, Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues, Good Hearted Woman, Too Much Whisky, Thespian Espionage, Rita Is Gone, Homesick, Always, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, Wildflowers & Wine, The Well

Encore: Goodbye Carolina, Can’t You See

How was Elizabeth Reed?

It was seamlessly tied into Always. I know Always from his first album but I was suddenly thinking “hey I know this one!!” Everything he jammed out was really insanely good. This might have been around the time I naturally told another concert goer that he reminded me a lot of Duane Allman subconsciously.

As huge a fan of Duane as I am, Marcus is so far ahead of him.

I remember a number of years ago someone asked Gregg what he thought Duane would be doing right now and he answered, “He’d be Jack Pearson.” Yeah, at this point, he’d be Marcus King.

New single “Hard Working Man” with new album coming 8/22. The song is okay. Sounded better live in March - I got Shania Twain vibes from it but it’s fine.

Alright. 70s rock this time through. I think the slickness of it is what gave me the pop vibes but overall pretty decent.

I watched the performance from Stagecoach, which was streaming last night. New songs sound quite good.

Going to be obsessed with this new album for the next few weeks. Goddamn!

It’s really in so many ways unfortunate that often an artist’s greater works come from a place of pain and confusion. For Marcus King, Carolina Confessions was I think his top album, and it might still be, but it’s really close with this new one. What I do appreciate is while an artist like Beck makes a divorce album that’s forlorn and somewhat muted to express the serious tone of the work and the place he was in, Marcus King is finding this space of pure intensity, in the vocal but especially in his playing, that reveals the sort of mood he is in. I mean, this is the most intense he’s played in the studio for sure. I got to see a couple of new songs live in March, but I am looking forward to hopefully seeing these songs in their more developed live form. His last 3 albums have been pretty exceptional to me. His first two were excellent too though not as focused. Can’t believe still he can get that sound so richly at 26.

So Mood Swings is out today, I think created in the same headspace as his last album, but taking a totally different approach. Young Blood is a guitar record, a man anguished and channeling it through his guitar. It’s arguably his best album, absolutely ripping but still evocative and interesting. Mood Swings relies instead on Marcus’s crooning, and gives off a more somber soul vibe - as much Temptations or Marvin Gaye than a guitar hero slinging - in fact I am nearly through this thing and there’s not a guitar solo in sight. But that notwithstanding, it’s still a pretty good album, and songs like Mood Swings, F*ck Up My Life Again, Soul It Screams, Delilah, and Inglewood Motel are already worth going back to. Still a couple more go, but this doesn’t quite go to the places that made the last 3 albums so great.

Songs are sticking to the ribs better on a second listen. Amazing how this guy has made into my main rotation. One of my current favorites.