It's taken an entire lifetime of experiences to fuel Matt King to create Rube, his forthcoming full-length release for Montage Music Group. For the Nashville-based singer\u002Fsongwriter\u002Fguitarist, the record is the sum total of King's childhood passions and his obsession with the gritty, all-too-often untold tales of history's common man. Setting these tales to towering, high-volume alternative rock, King has forged a musical style impervious to simple classifications and labels, with a keen edge sure to captivate rockers both young and old. I'm a frustrated guitar player who somehow had the ability to sing as well, King admits. King grew up playing bluegrass then migrated to playing in rock bands as a teen. He found initial success in Nashville, where he relocated to pursue label opportunities, leading to his stint in the mid-`90s on the Atlantic Records roster, a relationship that led to two albums as a solo artist. Here in 2008, now older, wiser and free of major-label restraints, King is finally making the kind of music for which he was always destined; Rube is a milestone amid King's career as a songwriter, blending the guitar-rock he's loved since childhood with the more traditional influences that also constitute his artistic palette. Rising from an extremely wide range of genres and styles, Rube is a richly textured distillation of King's evolution to date.