Marcus King Explains Multiple Meanings Of His New Album's Title

In Spanish, the phrase el dorado means 'the golden one' or it refers to a place of riches.

For singer-songwriter and guitarist Marcus King, the phrase is.

He tells Q104.3 New York's Out of the Box with Jonathan Clarke that in one way, to him, El Dorado refers to his newly adopted home of Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville has long been a haven for songwriters looking for a break, but it's also a popular destination for seasoned players, looking to surround themselves with likeminded artists.

"It's really about seeing Nashville as a place for just tremendous opportunity, and that's one of the reasons I moved there a couple years ago," King says.

King recalled a surreal moment that catalyzed his moved from Greenville, South Carolina, to Music City. Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys asked him to come jam. The request "stunned" King, who says it "came out of nowhere."

King hustled out to Auerbach's place, where the two wrote several songs and became good friends in the process. When it came time to doing his first record without his usual band, King decided tapped Auerbach to produce.

In addition to calling his solo debut, El Dorado, King also went out and bought a Cadillac Eldorado to replace his old van.

"It all came together in such a wild way," he continued. "I just got rid of my minivan ... a Chrysler Town & Country, an old one. It was a good fan, really inconspicuous, it was great. I gave it to my mother and I needed a car for Nashville. [Auerbach] told me, 'Don't get an old truck. It's a terrible idea and a terrible investment.' ...He said I should get a Cadillac."

But there's more confluence than that. King moved into his place in Nashville, and as a housewarming gift, his parents reacquired one of the first guitars their son ever played, a '70s-era Epiphone Eldorado acoustic.

Watch Marcus King perform his song "Beautiful Stranger" in the player above. Check out the full Out of the Box interview the top of this page.

El Dorado is available January 17. Get all Marcus King's tour dates here.

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Here's Marcus King performing at the Grand Ole Opry:


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