Marcus King Drops By Zach Top’s Set For Merle Haggard’s ‘Swinging Doors’ In Allentown

Marcus King joined Zach Top on Friday at PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania for a rendition of Merle Haggard’s “Swinging Doors.” The appearance marked the first time Top has performed the country classic live, while King has been playing the song onstage for years.

King’s guest spot came during the second of five Cold Beer & Country Music Tour shows The Marcus King Band is opening for Top. The collaboration also continued a run of sit-ins between the two artists that began Thursday in Pittsburgh.

“Swinging Doors” arrived in 1966 as the title track of Haggard’s third studio album and became one of the Bakersfield country legend’s signature songs. King has long put his own bluesy spin on the classic, performing it with The Marcus King Band several times between 2018 and 2020 as per Setlist.FM.

He and former Marcus King Band bassist Stephen Campbell covered the song at Carter Vintage Guitars in Nashville, with the performance filmed and released on YouTube in 2018. King handled the vocals and guitar on the stripped-down rendition while Campbell played bass.

Top has been embracing classic country throughout his current live run. His Allentown set included a bluegrass section featuring “In a World Gone Wrong,” “Cowboys Like Me Do” and a cover of “Freeborn Man,” along with Billy Currington’s “Good Directions.” The setlist also featured the Haggard song “Make-Up and Faded Blue Jeans” during Top’s Pittsburgh show the previous night.

The Allentown appearance was not King’s first collaboration with Top during the tour. King joined Top onstage at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Thursday for a cover of J.J. Cale’s “Call Me The Breeze.” The two also performed the song together on Saturday in Bangor, Maine.

King and The Marcus King Band opened Friday’s Allentown concert with a set that included a Brooks & Dunn cover of “Rock My World (Little Country Girl),” “Falling For The Devil,” “Lilac Wine,” “Delilah,” “Levi’s & Goodbyes,” “Blue Ridge Mountain Moon,” “Goodbye Carolina,” “Heartlands” and The Marshall Tucker Band’s “Can’t You See.”

Top subsequently delivered a 25-song set that moved between his own material, classic country covers and a bluegrass segment before bringing King back out for “Swinging Doors.” The Haggard cover landed late in the full-band portion of Top’s performance.

King sang the second verse after Top delivered the first verse. The pair joined voices for the choruses and swapped guitar solos before ending “Swinging Doors.”

Watch Marcus King and Zach Top team up on “Swinging Doors” below.

The Marcus King Band ends its time on Zach Top tour this Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29 to open at BankNH Pavilion in Gilford, New Hampshire. Top’s Cold Beer & Country Music Tour continues through the fall.