Raised by school principal parents in
Charlottesville, Virginia, King attended nearby
James Madison University as a music major, with a plan to become a session trumpet player, but his true calling was tied to using technology to reproduce music. In 1987, during his junior year at college, he landed an internship working as "an assistant to the assistant" engineer at recording sessions for producer Jimmy Bowen. King learned quickly and was told a job would be there for him when he graduated the following year. Working under producer Bowen, King was instantly in sessions with such country superstars as
George Strait. While working on an album with
Charlie Daniels, King was teased by the star for being a trumpeter. Eventually, Daniels not only asked King to play trumpet on the record, he paid for King to join the
American Federation of Musicians union. In time, King became a favorite of top producers
James Stroud and
Byron Gallimore. Some of the earliest Number One hits King engineered were the career-launching singles by
Tracy Lawrence and
Clay Walker. One of his favorite projects from those early years is the 1992
John Anderson CD
Seminole Wind. In 1993, he was tapped to engineer the disc debut of the then-unknown
Tim McGraw. King has engineered every Tim McGraw album since that time. He also helped create the sound that kick-started
Toby Keith's career. King was behind the board for
Common Thread: The Songs of the Eagles, an album that won the
CMA Award as Album of the Year for 1994. Stroud brought him on board as a co-producer in 1998, and King delivered "I'm Yours" as a hit for Grammy-winning singer
Linda Davis. In the following year came
Faith Hill's
Breathe, which earned King his own Grammy Award. Noting his increasing prominence,
Mix magazine profiled Julian King in 2001. Since then, King has produced "
I Should Be Sleeping" and "Only God (Could Stop Me Loving You)" as 2001–2002 hits for
Emerson Drive. In 2007, King reunited with Tracy Lawrence and co-produced the star's CMA Award-winning hit "
Find Out Who Your Friends Are". He has also continued to work constantly as an engineer, notably on
Lee Ann Womack's 2005 CMA Album of the Year ''
There's More Where That Came From and on the multi-million selling discs of two-time CMA Group of the Year, Sugarland. King engineered the two most recent albums by Chris Young which produced a string of five consecutive #1 hits, as well as albums by Kix Brooks (formerly of Brooks & Dunn) and American Idol'' finalists
Kellie Pickler,
Lauren Alaina and
Casey James. Most recently, King has been involved in producing
Tyler Farr's debut album for
Sony/BNA. ==Awards==