While John King sings the words “Tonight is gonna be the best night of our lives,” he would have a difficult time deciding which “tonight” has been the best so far, especially professionally. King points at first to seeing his song “Tonight Tonight” in the Top 50 and watching it continue to move up.
As he paused for a moment, King added the first time he heard his song played on air. “The first time I heard my song on the radio was on WQYK Tampa, FL,” King recalled. “It was just a surreal feeling. I mean when you work your whole life to get your music on the radio and then you finally hear it, let’s just say I was excited!”
He concludes “Right now I feel like every night is the best night of my life! I’m getting to perform almost every night for the best fans in the world, tour around seeing the country and meeting wonderful people. I’m just living the dream! Super blessed to be here!”
Last week, “Tonight Tonight” continued to move up to #42 from #44 on the Mediabase Country Chart.
"It ('Tonight Tonight') is steadily climbing every week! I’m so happy people are reacting to it. Every place we go now, people are singing along. It’s such an amazing feeling to hear people singing it back,” he said.
The song, co-written by Marshall Altman (Producer of Frankie Ballard, Eric Paslay and King’s Co-Producer), Dylan Altman (who wrote Jake Owen’s “Barefoot Blue Jean Night”) and Andy Cortes, is a catchy tune with fun lyrics, and is an upbeat weekend song from the perspective of the working man, who is reminded to take time to stop and enjoy the little moments in life – a reminder to make the most of the time you have. “As soon as I heard it I knew I wanted to cut it. It’s just a super fun song,” King said.
And King is no stranger to hard work. As a young man in a small mountain town in Georgia’s Habersham County, he grew up working with his hands, working in a stone quarry and in rock masonry, from the age of 14. “Although it was tough, it built muscle and character,” King stated.
It was during that time of hard, hands-on work in his life that King took a strong interest in playing the guitar, teaching himself for the most part and realizing he could learn to play his favorite song but make changes in them to make them sound the way he wanted. “That’s when I realized I could write my own music,” King recalled. “I started simply by playing familiar melodies and turning them into funny songs with lyrics about my friends.”
While his early music and bands played rock songs, largely because he had grown up around the rock music his parents loved so much, and King gives them credit for his musical influences including Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, AC/DC and the Black Crowes.
Besides the support and influence of his family, King states his faith as being a critical element of his life and career.
“I grew up singing in church. The church was really the first place I discovered my love for music and performing,” he said, adding that his first performances were in Church at the urging of his Grandma, who had him singing songs like “I’ll Fly Away” as a soloist.
“I grew up singing old Southern Hymns and those songs still mean so much to me,” King recalled fondly. “Every time I'm home I always try to go see my church family and I still get up and sing those songs.”
“I am a devoted, unashamed Christian and it's my love and faith in God that has allowed me to come this far. I wanna set a good example for the people who listen to my music,” King stated. “I really wanna be the kind of performer kids can look up to,” he added.
As country music became popular on a widespread level in the 1990s, King found himself in awe of one of country’s greatest singers, Garth Brooks. King was also fascinated by the level at which Brooks not only sang for, but entertained, his fans.
“I want to be like Garth and these guys who treat their fans like royalty. That’s how we want to be. If you’ve got a long career in country music, it’s because your fans love you,” King stated. As he became the lead singer of the band he played with, the sound of the band shifted from rock to country.“I grew up country, I talked country and I started to write and sing about country things,” he said.
After high school, King earned a degree in music from the University of Georgia, where he not only honed his skill as a country singer but developed some business savvy and started playing over 150 shows per year and opening for acts like Jason Aldean, Kip Moore and Brantley Gilbert, a feat almost unheard of without a booking agent or an affiliation with a label. King is very happy with his band, which includes his younger brother Andrew as his drummer.
In 2012 he signed a deal with Black River Publishing as a songwriter, and in 2013 a record deal with Black River Entertainment. Currently, King is in the studio recording his debut album with Black River Entertainment and continues to tour.
His next single is expected to be announced in early 2015, but for now King is focused on developing a fan base and continuing to promote “Tonight Tonight” as he tours throughout the year. “We’re just gonna keep hoping and praying folks will love it and that it keeps climbing!” he added.
For more information go to www.johnking.com or follow John King on Facebook and on Twitter.
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