Though he moved to Nashville to pursue his music career (including a Grammy-nominated debut album and a second album that topped the Billboard Top Blues Albums Chart), Marcus King is a Greenvillian at his core.
Born in Greenville, SC with music in his blood, King is a fourth-generation musician: His great-grandfather was a fiddler, his grandfather played the fiddle + guitar, and his father — Marvin King — is a guitarist who performs across the Upstate. King also studied under jazz guitarist Steve Watson at the Fine Arts Center right here in Greenville.
City Editor Danielle here. I recently caught up with the blues singer to learn about his favorite Greenville spots, what he has to say to his loyal longtime Greenville fans, and when we’ll see him return to the Upstate for a performance.
What is it like coming back home to Greenville?
I mean it’s always great coming home to Greenville, especially coming home to something like this Trueline groundbreaking and just finally seeing a venue of this size and caliber giving a space to local and traveling musicians to come and perform.
You’re in town to be inducted into the SC Hall of Fame, what is it like coming back to receive this honor?
It’s a little unbelievable, really. I mean, I’m just so tremendously honored and just, I’m really moved. And I’m just really excited for the future of Greenville and seeing all the things that Greenville’s doing to keep up with the times, keep up with the Joneses. It’s just, it’s wonderful to come back and see how much this little town’s grown up.
When you come back to visit, what do you have to do? Where do you have to eat? What’s on your must-do Greenville checklist?
Well, you gotta go down to Stone Avenue and go to Horizon Records to see our buddy Gene Berger, pick up something obscure from his collections. And I’ll tell you, you gotta go to Mike and Jeff’s Barbecue or you gotta go over to Petee’s over on White Horse Road — that’s my favorite spot to get a burger. Or you can’t go wrong with Henry’s Smokehouse. Always good.
So what I’m hearing is Nashville barbecue doesn’t compare to Greenville?
I feel like Nashville, we tend to have a mix of Texas and North Carolina and South Carolina, and you just end up with too many different cooks in the kitchen. They don’t really have their own thing, but South Carolina has their own thing and you know, mustard base is the best. I said it here, folks.
You are a Greenville kid and you’ve gone and you’ve accomplished so many amazing things. What do you have to say to those fans here in Greenville that really have been supporting you from the very beginning?
Thank you. Well I’m here to tell you folks you don’t have to be good looking to make it in this industry. You just go out and just do it and just love it. Do it for the right reasons. I just have such a profound love for music and the joy that it brings me and the ability that it allows me to just really shed all the weight of the world and just do what I know to do.
You’re coming home. Can you tell us about that? When are you coming back so people can see you perform?
August 24 + August 25, the Family Reunion returns, and this will be the first time we’re doing it on South Carolina soil. We did the first three up in North Carolina, but we’re going to be in Simpsonville, South Carolina, Marcus King Band, Avett Brothers, Sierra Ferrell, Band of Horses, and many more. That’s going to be amazing. We cannot wait.
