Katherine Elizabeth King is Kaki King – American singer songwriter and instrumentalist. She has had a keen interest in music since she was a small child, learning guitar and drums at an early age. King played in bands throughout high school with classmate Morgan Jahnig, who would later become the acoustic bassist of Old Crow Medicine Show.

King’s first releases, 2003’s Everybody Loves You and 2004’s Legs To Make Us Longer showcase her unique guitar skills, such as hammering, tapping and fanning. The albums feature mostly acoustic compositions, however, her later albums feature mostly electric guitars, drums, keyboards and music loops.

2006 saw the release of …Until We Felt Red. Produced by John McEntire of Tortoise, the album features King’s vocals on more tracks than previous albums and also reveals the welcome addition of a full band.

King’s gifted guitar skills quickly caught the attention of many other musicians, resulting in her contributing guest guitars to the likes of Tegan and Sara’s 2007 album The Con, Northern State’s Can I Keep This Pen? And the Foo Fighters 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. After working with King, Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters) was quoted as saying “there are some guitar players that are good and there are some guitar players that are really f**king good. And then there’s Kaki King”.

King released Dreaming Of Revenge in 2008, followed shortly by the release of Black Pear Tree (with The Mountain Goats) and the Mexican Teenagers EP in 2009.

In February 2006, King was hailed Guitar God by Rolling Stone magazine, becoming the first ever female to make this list in the history of the publication. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score for the music she made for the film Into The Wild. She was nominated for the award along with Eddie Vedder and Michael Brook, who also contributed music to the film.

King says she hopes she can be known more for her music and not just as a ‘good female guitarist’. Her style combines fret-tapping with slap bass techniques, using the guitar for percussive beats, as well as sound layering and looping, creating a complex sound.