John King is taking the country music charts by its horns as his groovy tune, “Easy” continues to become a favorite among many across the U.S.. Many know him for his song, “Try Saying Goodbye” which was released in 2019 and has over 8 million streams on Spotify. The singer, song-writer opened up about his recent fame and explains how he got to where he is today in a recent interview.
Born in a mountain town in northeast Georgia, King started playing music in a local church when he was about 9 years old. King shared a love for music with his parents who shed their love for classic rock, country, singer-songwriter on the young artist. King described, “It really piqued my interest and I wanted to learn how to play so I started (on) guitar and singing. I started experiment with writing my own songs which was a lot of fun. On into high school and middle school we started having little garage bands and playing local shows wherever we could.” From church picnics to birthday parties, King and his small town southern-rock band started winning hearts and gaining momentum to pursue their big dreams.
“I worked with a potter. A guy named Charlie West and he was a huge country music fan and a singer-songwriter himself. He had come to Nashville before and had some success in the industry. It was funny he kind of mentored me and I think helped mold me into what to expect and the competition (I) was up against. (He explained) how seriously you need to take this if you want to make this a career. He helped me take it from just being a dream to something like, here’s what you need to do if you really want to do (music),” King said.
“I always knew (music) was for me. It’s just in me, it’s what I have to do,”
John King
Although King is recognized for his soft harmonic vocals, King started out his Nashville journey writing and creating songs for other artists in town. “For me, all the songs I was writing were all country music songs. They were about small town living and love, everything was a country song. It was just me and what I was doing,” he said. His lyrical, heartfelt, and tender lines were noticed by big-name artists such as Randy Houser, allowing the fresh artist to make his mark in the music city. Leaving his high-school sweetheart and family behind in Georgia, King moved to Nashville after college with an EP and unshaken determination to successfully pursue a music career. “Obviously, being from a small town it was a little bit of a culture shock because it’s a massive city with so much to do and so much music. (There is) just an insane amount of talented people in this town. It was definitely a wake-up call for me and made me want to rise to the occasion and get better faster,” King explained.
“When I moved to town, I was playing literally every writer’s round, every bar, every gig I could get just to pay bills and (I was) living off the tip bucket,” King said.
For the past six years, King has been living in Nashville with his wife and 2 year old girl, Scarlett. Although the city can be harsh with the constant influx of artists all thirsting for that breakthrough single, King commented he enjoys being in the heart of the craziness as, “there’s a sense of camaraderie between artists. Everybody wants to help each other and it feels like everyone is on the same team.”
Although you would see King on Broadway in his initial Nashville years, behind the scenes he was helping craft hits such as “We Went”, Randy Houser and “Rollin’”, Hootie and the Blowfish. King commented, “The cool thing about (being) a song-writer, you can incorporate everything into your style and that’s to me what makes some my favorite artists as they are a blend. They’re not just one sound or one genre.”
When asked if he ever had any doubts about pursuing music, the singer simply explained the hardest part was learning patience as finding that breakthrough is rarely an overnight occurrence. “It can be discouraging when you run and run, play show after show and the needle isn’t moving as fast as you hope. I always want things to happen faster than they do but nothing ever told me, hey this isn’t for you. I always knew it was for me. It’s just in me, it’s what I have to do,” King said.
His new single, “Easy” was released to “put a smile on your face” during a time when nerves were rising across the nation due to Coronavirus, King explained. The laid-back tune was intended to shift the focus from all the negative that had risen to the positive. King described, “That was the primary message and goal behind the song. (We didn’t) want to put too much production on it or make (the) lyric(s) too complicated. (We wanted to) make something that’s fun to sing along to and very chill. I think we did a good job of that.”
In 30 minutes, “Easy” was written. “It really was easy all the way from writing it to production. My brother and I produced it and it was really fun. It was just so effortless,” King laughed.
Looking forward, King has been intensively song-writing during quarantine and promises fans can expect more catchy tunes to come this upcoming year. Stay up to date on King’s journey here.
Listen to King’s latest hit “Easy”.
