By Eric Czarnik WEST BLOOMFIELD — You may recognize Duffy King’s guitar riffs from local Ford commercials, but this year, he plans to crank up the dial of his career even higher. King, who lives in West Bloomfield, has spent the last few months putting together a performance schedule for his new three-member band, the Duffy King Koalition. This month, he also plans to start recording a new album. While the project has been in pre-production for the past couple of years, King said it’s time to finish it. He described the album’s vibe as bluesy rock mixed with some funk. “This is going to be a full-on production recording of original music — an actual body of work, as opposed to a live bar gig recording of cover songs,” he said. King can draw upon a long history of musical experience. While growing up, he started learning singing, drums and guitar as a child. His adult professional career as a guitarist has taken him on tours across the United States and even the world. When King wasn’t onstage, he also recorded background music for commercials ranging from Chevrolet and Ford Motor Co. to Spirit Airlines. One of his most recent commercials was a Ford F-150 truck ad that featured actor and comedian Denis Leary. “Oddly enough, the really big, national Chevy and Ford ad campaigns I became part of came via a couple different guitar students of mine that were involved in the advertising industry,” King said. King has been working on his own brand, too. While he played guitar and sang in the local Bugs Beddow Band from 1999 until last summer, he and band mates Jim Pryor and Glenn Olds decided to form the Duffy King Koalition. Pryor, the Koalition’s drummer, called his new band’s material fresh, adding that it would allow the group to market itself to different venues. “I think a couple years from now, I see us, we’re going to look to capture a lot of the festival-type activities that are out there during the summer months,” he said. Currently, King said he hopes to continue performing throughout metro Detroit. In his spare time, he listens to artists such as John Mayer, Norah Jones, Death Cab for Cutie and Spoon. He also enjoys the classics such as George Benson, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. While King still loves to sing, produce and compose, guitar is his No. 1 passion. “It seems to have a more immediate connection to my soul,” he said. “There is absolutely nothing like being ‘in the zone’ onstage rippin’ up the guitar.” Duffy King will perform at the Uptown Grille in Commerce Township 6-9 p.m. Jan. 15 and 22. For more information, visit www.duffyking.net. You can reach Staff Writer Eric Czarnik at eczarnik@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1058. |
