Kaki King

Photo Gallery

• Genre: New Folk
• Kaki King Website

About

Known for her elaborate experimentalism on the acoustic guitar, Kaki King initially crafted her musical style not via strings but via drumsticks. Her experience and passion for the drums became a tool for her guitar work, which blends blazing-fast finger-picking with percussive fret-tapping, slapping and layering. Originally from Atlanta, King attended New York University and began playing at open-mike nights and on subway platforms before catching the attention of the head of Velour Records while performing at the Knitting Factory. Her debut album, Everybody Loves You, released in 2003, garnered comparisons to guitar greats like Preston Reed, John Fahey, Michael Hedges and Alex de Grassi. While her first outing focused strictly on her guitar prowess, King branched out on 2004's Legs to Make Us Longer, incorporating instruments including bass, violin, piano and cello. With each following release, the virtuoso would continue to evolve in her musicianship, adding vocals and a post-rock flair with the production help of Tortoise's John McEntire on ...Until We Felt Red and continuing along a more singer-songwriterly path on 2008's Dreaming of Revenge.

- Stephanie Benson