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.[4]
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