Biography
American guitarist and composer Kaki King has devoted her professional life to pushing the boundaries of guitar performance. Technical command pairs in her work with relentless curiosity about the instrument’s physical limits and tonal range. A custom Adamas model anchors her approach, where varied fingerpicking and tapping patterns gain extra dimension through effects pedals and percussive strikes on the body itself. Western harmonic elements drawn from jazz, pop, and classical traditions merge in her pieces with techniques borrowed from music around the world. The 2003 debut Everybody Loves You presented these ideas in unadorned solo form without overdubs. Until We Felt Red, issued in 2006 and shaped by Tortoise’s John McEntire, moved into full-band post-rock territory. Largely instrumental Dreaming of Revenge, helmed by Malcolm Burn in 2008, knitted earlier experiments into a single statement. Junior, released in 2010, shifted focus to vocal indie pop. Two years afterward, the instrumental Glow fused Far Eastern modes and harmonies with Western blues, pop, and folk across meticulously arranged pieces. The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body, crowdfunded in 2015, originated as a multimedia work whose recorded portion captured fluid movement among jazz, nuevo flamenco, crossover classical, shoegaze, indie rock, and Latin textures. Live at Berklee appeared in 2017 and documented performances with the Porta Girevole Chamber Orchestra.
King entered the world in Atlanta in 1979. Her father placed a guitar in her hands at age four; she explored it casually until Brit-pop records sparked an interest in drums that temporarily sidelined the six-string. Teachers noted her strong aptitude once she concentrated on the kit. Throughout her teenage years drumming stayed central, including stints in high-school rock bands alongside bassist and classmate Morgan Jahnig, later of Old Crow Medicine Show. She viewed the trap set as the clearest route to a musical career until late-high-school encounters with acoustic players Preston Reed and Michael Hedges rekindled her commitment to guitar.
At New York University she studied with Bill Rayner and tested early solo material at campus open-mike sessions. After graduating in 2001 she committed fully to the instrument, refining percussive techniques while performing in the subway, where reflective surfaces shaped her developing sound. Positive audience reactions convinced her that recordings could sustain a livelihood. A 2002 demo secured a brief engagement at the Knitting Factory’s Tap Bar that caught the attention of Velour Records founder Jeff Krasno. Velour issued Everybody Loves You the next year, introducing her signature “fanning” fingerstyle alongside flamenco-style body percussion and fret-tapping, all executed in double open and viola tunings. The album earned uniform praise and remains her sole unaccompanied acoustic guitar release. Media attention led to a Late Night with Conan O’Brien appearance and a contract with Sony Epic’s Red Ink imprint. Legs to Make Us Longer, recorded in 2004 with sympathetic input from guitarist David Torn, introduced loops, lap steel, and organic drums. Strong reviews followed, prompting an opening slot on part of blues-rock guitarist Eric Johnson’s 2005 tour and her first national headline run.
King returned to Velour for Until We Felt Red. John McEntire produced and supplied drums and percussion, surrounding her vocals and guitar with an array of instruments that ranged from mbira to flügelhorn. She toured the record from 2006 into 2007. While preparing her next project she contributed to Tegan and Sara and Foo Fighters releases and supplied original music for the soundtracks of Into the Wild and August Rush. Malcolm Burn, whose prior clients include Chris Whitley and Lisa Germano, produced Dreaming of Revenge. King handled most parts, yet Burn added electric guitars, harmonica, keyboards, and a string quartet on selected tracks, yielding a more melodic, pop-oriented result. Velour Recordings released the album in March 2008 to widespread acclaim; it reached number 23 on the Heatseekers chart. A world tour followed. Afterward she assisted Carter Burwell on the Twilight score and supplied a cover of “Close to Me” for the Cure tribute Perfect as Cats. In 2009 she appeared on Vienna Teng’s Inland Territory, issued by Zoe, and released the five-song Mexican Teenagers EP through Rounder and Velour jointly.
Reuniting with Burn, she created Junior, issued in 2010 by Cooking Vinyl and Rounder. Electric guitar dominated within an indie-rock trio setting, and her vocals were supported by additional multi-instrumentalists. Reactions were divided, though the album climbed to number seven on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. Timbaland enlisted her as primary guitarist for Shock Value II, where she co-produced “We Belong to the Music” featuring Miley Cyrus. Separately she issued the concert DVD The Berkeley Sessions. In 2011 she mounted her first solo tour since 2005 under the banner The Traveling Freak Guitar Show, employing seven instruments that included harp guitar, dojo, a custom nylon seven-string with fanned fretboard, and a hybrid acoustic-koto creation of her own making.
Glow, a set of instrumentals, arrived in fall 2012. Multi-instrumentalist D. James Goodwin produced and performed; string quartet Ethel appeared on several pieces, joined at times by bagpipes and organic percussion. King and Goodwin crafted individual soundscapes around the acoustic guitar. She described the result by saying, “This is the sound of a person playing guitar.” Critics largely welcomed the album as a return to form, and it entered multiple charts, marking her first appearance on the Billboard 200. That summer she married Jessica Templin; the couple honeymooned in Australia in October, tying the trip to a festival performance. Everybody Glows: B Sides & Rarities appeared in 2014 alongside a crowdfunding campaign for the multimedia production The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body. Working with Glowing Pictures, King developed a show that projected imagery onto her signature Ovation Adamas 1581-KK six-string, which had been modified for the purpose; the narrative followed a cyclical creation myth. The hour-long piece premiered to strong notices at Brooklyn’s BRIC Theater. Surplus funds enabled the 2015 release of the audio component as a standalone album on which she played guitars and drums with string contributions from Ethel. After touring the project, she and Jessica paused to start a family.
Live at Berklee received a private release in September 2017. Captured that April in the Red Room at Cafe 939, the recording presented new string-and-woodwind arrangements of solo guitar pieces crafted by King, Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman, and Berklee students Takuma Matsui and Shereen Cheong. The twelve-piece Porta Girevole Chamber Orchestra, drawn from Berklee students and faculty, joined her for the performances. She resumed recording in late 2019 and early 2020, co-producing Modern Yesterdays with Arjan Miranda and Chloe Alexandra Thompson, the latter also responsible for sound design. Cantaloupe issued the album in October, celebrated with a Georgia Tech Arts streaming concert. Its accompanying tour featured fully realized projection-mapping visuals.
King entered the world in Atlanta in 1979. Her father placed a guitar in her hands at age four; she explored it casually until Brit-pop records sparked an interest in drums that temporarily sidelined the six-string. Teachers noted her strong aptitude once she concentrated on the kit. Throughout her teenage years drumming stayed central, including stints in high-school rock bands alongside bassist and classmate Morgan Jahnig, later of Old Crow Medicine Show. She viewed the trap set as the clearest route to a musical career until late-high-school encounters with acoustic players Preston Reed and Michael Hedges rekindled her commitment to guitar.
At New York University she studied with Bill Rayner and tested early solo material at campus open-mike sessions. After graduating in 2001 she committed fully to the instrument, refining percussive techniques while performing in the subway, where reflective surfaces shaped her developing sound. Positive audience reactions convinced her that recordings could sustain a livelihood. A 2002 demo secured a brief engagement at the Knitting Factory’s Tap Bar that caught the attention of Velour Records founder Jeff Krasno. Velour issued Everybody Loves You the next year, introducing her signature “fanning” fingerstyle alongside flamenco-style body percussion and fret-tapping, all executed in double open and viola tunings. The album earned uniform praise and remains her sole unaccompanied acoustic guitar release. Media attention led to a Late Night with Conan O’Brien appearance and a contract with Sony Epic’s Red Ink imprint. Legs to Make Us Longer, recorded in 2004 with sympathetic input from guitarist David Torn, introduced loops, lap steel, and organic drums. Strong reviews followed, prompting an opening slot on part of blues-rock guitarist Eric Johnson’s 2005 tour and her first national headline run.
King returned to Velour for Until We Felt Red. John McEntire produced and supplied drums and percussion, surrounding her vocals and guitar with an array of instruments that ranged from mbira to flügelhorn. She toured the record from 2006 into 2007. While preparing her next project she contributed to Tegan and Sara and Foo Fighters releases and supplied original music for the soundtracks of Into the Wild and August Rush. Malcolm Burn, whose prior clients include Chris Whitley and Lisa Germano, produced Dreaming of Revenge. King handled most parts, yet Burn added electric guitars, harmonica, keyboards, and a string quartet on selected tracks, yielding a more melodic, pop-oriented result. Velour Recordings released the album in March 2008 to widespread acclaim; it reached number 23 on the Heatseekers chart. A world tour followed. Afterward she assisted Carter Burwell on the Twilight score and supplied a cover of “Close to Me” for the Cure tribute Perfect as Cats. In 2009 she appeared on Vienna Teng’s Inland Territory, issued by Zoe, and released the five-song Mexican Teenagers EP through Rounder and Velour jointly.
Reuniting with Burn, she created Junior, issued in 2010 by Cooking Vinyl and Rounder. Electric guitar dominated within an indie-rock trio setting, and her vocals were supported by additional multi-instrumentalists. Reactions were divided, though the album climbed to number seven on the Americana/Folk Albums chart. Timbaland enlisted her as primary guitarist for Shock Value II, where she co-produced “We Belong to the Music” featuring Miley Cyrus. Separately she issued the concert DVD The Berkeley Sessions. In 2011 she mounted her first solo tour since 2005 under the banner The Traveling Freak Guitar Show, employing seven instruments that included harp guitar, dojo, a custom nylon seven-string with fanned fretboard, and a hybrid acoustic-koto creation of her own making.
Glow, a set of instrumentals, arrived in fall 2012. Multi-instrumentalist D. James Goodwin produced and performed; string quartet Ethel appeared on several pieces, joined at times by bagpipes and organic percussion. King and Goodwin crafted individual soundscapes around the acoustic guitar. She described the result by saying, “This is the sound of a person playing guitar.” Critics largely welcomed the album as a return to form, and it entered multiple charts, marking her first appearance on the Billboard 200. That summer she married Jessica Templin; the couple honeymooned in Australia in October, tying the trip to a festival performance. Everybody Glows: B Sides & Rarities appeared in 2014 alongside a crowdfunding campaign for the multimedia production The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body. Working with Glowing Pictures, King developed a show that projected imagery onto her signature Ovation Adamas 1581-KK six-string, which had been modified for the purpose; the narrative followed a cyclical creation myth. The hour-long piece premiered to strong notices at Brooklyn’s BRIC Theater. Surplus funds enabled the 2015 release of the audio component as a standalone album on which she played guitars and drums with string contributions from Ethel. After touring the project, she and Jessica paused to start a family.
Live at Berklee received a private release in September 2017. Captured that April in the Red Room at Cafe 939, the recording presented new string-and-woodwind arrangements of solo guitar pieces crafted by King, Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman, and Berklee students Takuma Matsui and Shereen Cheong. The twelve-piece Porta Girevole Chamber Orchestra, drawn from Berklee students and faculty, joined her for the performances. She resumed recording in late 2019 and early 2020, co-producing Modern Yesterdays with Arjan Miranda and Chloe Alexandra Thompson, the latter also responsible for sound design. Cantaloupe issued the album in October, celebrated with a Georgia Tech Arts streaming concert. Its accompanying tour featured fully realized projection-mapping visuals.
Albums
Can't Touch This or That or You or My Face (Arthur Moon Remix)
2021
Modern Yesterdays
2020
Can't Touch This or That or You or My Face
2020
Forms of Light and Death
2020
Teek
2020
Junior
2010
Legs to Make us Longer
2004
Singles
