During a stop on his current tour, Marcus King gave his band a break while he performed a series of acoustic renditions. One of those was a cover of Tyler Childers’ “Shake the Frost,” and King gave it a special dedication before he played.
He put his unique, bluesy vocals on display in the stripped-back setting. Marcus King knows how to command a room, and the crowd quietly sang along in admiration with the occasional cheer of delight. There was a certain reverence in King’s performance, not only for the song but seemingly for who he dedicated it to.
Videos by American Songwriter
King has had “Shake the Frost” in his setlist for a while, performing it at Railbird Festival as well as during his tour. This was a special performance, however, because King’s wife was allegedly in the audience during this stop. Take a listen to the incredible rendition in this fan-captured video.
Marcus King On How Mood Swings Came About
In April, Marcus King put out his newest album, Mood Swings, which was produced by Rick Rubin. This past May, he spoke with American Songwriter about how that partnership, and the album, came together.
“In 2019, I got a call from Rick. He cold-called me, actually. He’d seen my performance at the Grand Ole Opry and was really moved by it,” he said. “We spoke at length about mental health and about everything else under the sun. We never directly said, ‘Hey, let’s work together.’ It was like we didn’t really need to.”
He continued, “We knew that’s what the natural progression of things would be. So, that’s how it ended up coming to be. I feel like Rick really helped me look within and heal from a lot of these things that I was repressing.”
The album deals with Marcus King’s mental health struggles, exorcising his demons through songs like the title track and “Bipolar Love.” Even though the album came from a dark place, he assured us that “I’m definitely doing better,” adding, “My time with Rick was like a master class in mindfulness and it changed my whole perspective on mental health and the things I was going through … So, it was just as much a time for me to look within and grow mentally as it was a time to make this record.”
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