For those keeping score, this Thursday will be the first father-son combination to grace the stage for
Downtown Alive when Marvin King and the Blues Revival Band perform. Marvin was able to spend some time answering our questions recently about attending the last Allman Brothers show that Duane Allman ever played, what its like for a Christian artist to play in bars, and how his son is a 60-year-old blues man in a 13-year-old body.
Describe your sound for someone that has never heard you before. Our music is a cross between Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers meeting Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. But hopefully it is unique unto itself with a positive message and blues rock groove.
You share guitar duties with your 13-year-old son, Marcus. What's it been like watching him develop his own style musically? Wow, now I know how my Dad Bill King felt (Happy Father’s Day, Dad). He started teaching me The Ventures, Buck Owens, Chuck Berry and Merle Haggard to name a few. But when I first heard The Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and bands of this nature I knew my direction. Very similar with Marcus. Since a very young age he has gravitated to the blues. I knew he was the real deal when I would come home and find him playing Stevie Ray and Lynrd Skynrd in their entirety completely by ear. Now he is naturally enticed by music his friends listen to, but I really feel like he is a 60-year-old blues man in a 13-year-old body. But to me it is very exciting to watch him come into his own voice musically.
Your sound has been compared to classic acts like the Allman Brothers and Government Mule. Has Marcus pushed you to incorporate elements of more recent bands, or does he also draw the majority of his inspiration from artists of that era? At this stage in his development he still pretty much shares my musical preferences such as Derek Trucks and basically blues-based music, although I am sure it is coming but not too much as of yet.
You ever have any problems playing bars with Marcus's age? Ouch. Now you are getting me where it hurts. I had to do a lot of soul searching to get to the venues we are doing today. But I am very selective of where we play. For example when I saw Ricky Scaggs, obviously a Christian artist, playing The Handlebar I made the decision to expand from just churches and coffee houses to listening rooms and more restaurants with bar-type rooms. I know it ruffles some feathers but I am at peace with it, and Marcus is very mature for his young age... But that is a very good question and one that I am in constant prayer about. Having said all that, our message is very clear and we go into any venue with our focus on playing music and leaving a positive impact on those who may need it.
You have any advice for parents that also want to raise musical prodigies? I would try and stress that knowledge is power…I try to drill into Marcus that he needs more than just talent in this world of today. But it is very important not to make your child an extension of yourself. Encourage growth and finding their own voice musically.
You rededicated your life to Christ in 1993, after years of touring and recording as a professional musician. With songs like “Pharmaceutically Checkered Past” you seem to make an allusion to wilder times. How has your spirituality changed your music? I actually wasn’t a writer to speak of until my conversion. In search of material for my first project, “The Calling,” I realized that I was going to have to write the material myself. But I do have a pretty worldly background and as far as the music goes, the spirituality didn’t change my style so much as the message. Gospel blues goes back to the virtual birth of the genre so changing my style because of my spiritual conversion would feel artificial to me.
Do you have anything special planned for the show at Downtown Alive? We do have several new songs in the set for Downtown Alive. We are very excited about the gig and are very appreciative for being invited to play.
What was the best show you witnessed from back in the heyday of the blues rock legends? Are there any artists from today besides Derek Trucks that can hang with the heavyweights from yesterday? I used to follow the Allman Brothers around before they made it. Such as camping right beside them in Love Valley, N.C, around 1969. And the shows there were very memorable, but the show that sticks out the most would be The Allman Brothers at Furman University before Duane was tragically killed. I think as far as young blues guys hanging with the heavyweights, there are several but Johnny Lang and Kenny Wayne Sheppard are the first that come to mind.
Underrated/Overrated: I feel that all the blues pioneers of that genre have been grossly underrated by the general public and even worse, by the musical community.