“Gary Rossington came over and played it with me, and 12-year-old me was just floating on a cloud. He and I connected in this real spiritual way”: Marcus King names 6 guitar riffs that shaped his sound – from Lynyrd Skynyrd to his dad's metal moment

Few guitarists strut their stuff with more swagger than Marcus King, a Greenville, South Carolina, native, who, at 28, is building quite the legacy. He's been around for a decade, but King's last three records — 2020's El Dorado, 2022's Young Blood and 2024's Mood Swings – have seen him go from wunderkind to guitar hero.

But what's most interesting about King is his vulnerability and honesty when it comes to who he is beyond the confines of six strings. The track listing of Mood Swings – which features tell-all titles like F*ck My Life Up, Soul it Screams, Bipolar Love and the title track itself – paints a picture of an artist standing precariously close to the edge while balanced against escalating expectations.