Today we’d like to introduce you to King Margo
Hi King Margo, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
We met in the middle of a field in Kentucky in 2016 when we were both hired for the same touring band. Rachel was playing bass and Lucciana was playing keys. We instantly connected both personally and musically and realized we grew up very close to each other, just about 40 minutes apart across the Ohio/Michigan border. Both of us, without knowing each other at the time, had grown up playing gigs in our respective local music scenes from a very early age. Lucciana began playing the Dobro (slide guitar) at 12, which led to learning the ropes as a working musician almost immediately as there weren’t too many slide players in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Rachel was born into a long lineage of working musicians, and she grew up holding a microphone nearly from birth.
Once we met, Lucciana relocated to Nashville, TN where Rachel was already living. We started playing small shows as “Bashville” which was not yet the name of a business where you could hold “divorce parties” and throw plates at walls. We managed to rack up an impressive amount of road gigs in a short amount of time because we loved to travel and we weren’t shy about begging for shows. A particular venue in Colorado dubbed our sound “sarcastic folk/rock” which we absolutely loved and ran with for years.
On a whim we auditioned to be the Country Duo for Carnival Cruise Lines and they offered us a contract almost immediately. In preparation for that, we changed our name to King Margo and released our first album “Barely Gettin By” as an entirely independent operation. We recorded most of it ourselves late into the night at our studio set up in the historic Marathon building in downtown Nashville. Working on the cruise ship was where we truly solidified our chops together and honed our blend of harmonies that most people know us for now.
We began working with singer/songwriter Gabe Lee in 2019 who introduced us to Alex Torrez and brought us into the Torrez Music Group fold. As everyone’s careers began to rise slowly, the three of us began a heavy touring schedule that continues to this day. King Margo released their second album through TMG, an LP called Waters Rise that was met with critical acclaim. A booking agent found us through a Spotify playlist and reached out and that started an even wilder stint of touring the country regularly.
But we hit a wall not unfamiliar to many musicians. The pace we were going at was unsustainable and it took a toll on us physically and personally. Against our every instinct, we had to cancel shows and take a step back to really examine what kind of life we each wanted and what “success” in the music industry really meant. Both of us realized we wanted to slow down and return to focusing on art and retaining our independent spirit that had formed us in the first place.
Now we are writing and recording a big batch of new songs and getting ready to release a steady stream of new music in 2025. We still play with several artists around town, including Gabe, and we got to play both the Grand Ole Opry and the legendary Cayamo Cruise in the past year. In a long, wild career, we’re now focused on retaining our penchant for adventure and honoring our constant need to get into just a little bit of trouble.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has definitely not been a smooth road! As alluded to, there were personal and professional challenges, especially as responsibility and pressure grew from outside sources. Retaining your sanity in the music industry is a highly personal journey that no one can tell you how to do. For us, our challenges arose when we had different needs or opposite ways of coping with certain situations. Musical relationships are some of the most intense bonds you can have with another person and it’s easy to lose focus on your sense of self. To retain a healthy relationship within your band and your team while executing a very public-facing job can be tough, because when things aren’t going well behind the scenes and you have to put on a happy face and walk onstage and pour your heart out under bright lights, it creates a split within you that can end up being pretty dangerous. You can’t align your body and heart and mind into one functioning entity if you’re faking it too often. So you have to take a step back, which will usually end up disappointing people and costing you time, money and business relationships. But it’s priceless, because you really have nothing without that alignment. Music is spiritual work and if you block the channel, you don’t have anything to offer. It sounds a little out there, but it’s proven true over and over for us at least.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We get the most feedback on our songwriting and our chemistry live onstage together. And also the instruments that we play, which we call our trophy wives. Rachel has a gorgeous giant upright bass and Lucc has a couple beautiful Dobros and people always seem delighted to see instruments they aren’t used to seeing.
We really try to craft songs that have a message, though very often that message is wrapped in a sarcastic bow with a humorous cherry on top. We just like to have fun. Fun is good for the world. Honestly the thing we hear the most often is “I really felt something watching you guys” and that is about the highest compliment you could ask for working in music. If we can help someone plug into any feeling, joy, heartbreak, anything, it feels like a job well-done. Although I did tell a therapist that one time and he just said “God, so many people out there need therapy.” We’re like really, really cheap, black-market therapy.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Be nice to everybody. Drink water in between your whiskey. Sleep when you can. Don’t let the world tell you who you are, you tell them. Yes, you probably do need that new instrument.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kingmargo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingmargomusic/reels/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kingmargomusic/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@KingMargoYT
