Live From Gothamist House: Kaki King

Last we checked in on Kaki King was back in 2008, when she was about to release her album Dreaming Of Revenge. Now she's just released her 5th album, Junior, which has sent "the first and only female Guitar God" back on the road. Prior to all of this, you may have seen her busking in the subway system, which she began doing during her time at NYU.

Before she played Bowery Ballroom last Friday, she dropped by to perform some songs for us. For this session we departed Gothamist HQ in Brooklyn and headed over to Manhattan—special thanks to Family Records, and the folks at Engine Room Audio who were kind enough to let us use their studio. Enjoy!

Video by Katie Sokoler/Gothamist

P.S.: This is part of our somewhat new Gothamist House series—check out the previous ones here.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on April 19, 2010 12:24 PM

Comments [rss]

ocularb0b

yup the girl is good. but "the first and only female guitar god". I wanna know how old was the fool who wrote that.

pants

I saw her play at BAM a year or so ago opening for someone else and she really impressed me. Her stuff is pretty versatile and she's got the charming stage banter thing down. She was playing some really aggro stuff on a baritone that sounded a bit liker Shellac and then she also played some very nice 50s sounding stuff on a lap steel as well. Her acoustic stuff can be a bit busy, but overall, she's very good.

NattyB

She's from the ATL.

I saw her show at Bowery Ballroom on Friday night and although I had only heard a few of her songs beforehand, I came away quite pleased. She's got some wicked guitar skills and she reminded me of Ben Harper a little in how she'd play the guitar in all these different ways.

theboneranger

i never knew kaki came from atlanta. thanks to atlanta for making kaki for us!

theboneranger

she's actually kind of a bad guitarist, sorry

hotstepper

being a rock god and all, where can we see you play your highness?

theboneranger

i admit, im no kaki on the guitar.. but this kaki is very dave matthews if ya ax me.

hotstepper

re: kaki's style

michael hedges (if you're not familiar with him already) evolved this precise (almost orchestral) style of guitar. he was amazing live. he used lots of slap harmonics, pairing elongated notes with moments of silence, and unusual tuning. great stuff if you love guitar.

if you check out his work you may begin to recognize that many contemporary guitarists bite his style -- including DMB and Kaki.