Kaki King

Kaki King is an American guitarist from Marietta, Georgia. As a child, her father encouraged her to be involved in music, and although she was first introduced to the guitar at a young age, the drums were her first serious instrument. King played in bands in high school with classmate and boyfriend Morgan Jahnig, upright bassist of Old Crow Medicine Show. Upon graduating, the two friends made their way to New York University. During her time there, King adopted the guitar again after years of neglect, and the 5'1" musician played a few occasional gigs, and busked in the New York subways.^[1]

King's style combines fret-tapping with slap bass techniques, as well as sound layering and looping, which creates a percussive and complex sound. Her playing style has been likened to that of Michael Hedges and Preston Reed,^[2] the latter of whom she cites as an influence. ^[3] Although she shares both similar playing techniques and a last name with guitarist Justin King, the two are not related.

King's earlier recordings featured more acoustic compositions, but her 2005 tours saw more use of electric guitars and loops. During some shows, she made it known that she had parted ways with major label Sony. For her third album ...Until We Felt Red King made a conscious decision to depart from her previous musical direction,^[4] out of a desire to escape being pigeonholed as a solo instrumental artist. The album features King's vocals on more tracks than previous albums. With the prominence of electric guitar on the new record and the addition of a full band, the popular music website AV Club called the sound a "post-rock makeover." Featuring production work by Tortoise's John McEntire, the album was released on August 8, 2006 on Velour Records.

In a MySpace bulletin on July 5th, 2006, King announced that she would play with a full band for the first time on her upcoming tour. More recently, King was named as the first ever Female "Guitar God" by Rolling Stone Magazine. She has also appeared in a commercial to promote a vaccine for cervical cancer. According to a recent article in the Advocate, and other LGBT publications, she is an open lesbian.^[5]

King's official Italian webpage is hosted by Mechanism Records, who also redistributed her debut "Everybody Loves You" in Italy with some bonus tracks and different album artwork.

She will appear as a guest guitarist on a track for the Foo Fighters' upcoming studio album, tentatively entitled Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace. It is scheduled for a September 24, 2007 release.

King also appears in the new film, August Rush, performing as the main character's hands and playing his guitar parts.

She also appears as a guest guitarist on The Con, an album by Canadian indie-punk/rock/pop band Tegan and Sara. She appears on the tracks "Knife Going In", playing the Lap Steel, and on "Floorplan", playing guitars. (Both songs originally written by Sara Quin.)

King has finished her new record, and recently wrote about it in her MySpace blog: "I finished the new album. Don't get your panties in a tangle, it won't be released until next year, but it's done. And it's amazing."

Discography

External links

[1] Kaki King Forum

References

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[1] ttp://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/episodes/2007/04/18

[2] ttp://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ou65mp9j9ffo

[3] ttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4179954

[4] ttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/09/21/derk.DTL

[5] ttp://www.chicagopride.com/news/interview.cfm/articleid/101664

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