From busking on the New York City subway to performing at Carnegie Hall, Kaki King has come a long way as a musician. CSMA is delighted that she celebrated the 20-year journey of her debut album, “Everybody Loves You” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023, with a free performance in Tateuchi Hall in Mountain View.
“Being able to look back with objectivity and clarity is a huge relief,” said King in an interview with Digital Journal. “With that relief comes immense gratitude that I was able to make this album—that it touched people, that it created dreams for me I never knew I had, and that took me along for the ride.”
The performance will pay homage to the solo guitar and the synchronicity of her career, according to the visionary guitarist and composer. When King first released the album in 2003, music critic Thom Jurek said, “Kaki King possesses the most original voice on the acoustic guitar in a generation.”
Eight more albums later, King continues to make her mark. Rolling Stone calls her “a genre unto herself, and Foo Fighters’ David Grohl told MusicRadar, “There are some guitar players that are good, and there are some guitar players that are really good.* And then there’s Kaki King.”
Known for experimental storytelling, King has redefined the sounds of the guitar on prestigious stages from The Met to the Kennedy Center and beyond. She’s collaborated with symphonies and chamber ensembles while also creating music for numerous film and TV soundtracks, earning her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score for the film “Into the Wild.”
In this 20th anniversary tour, King returns to her origins. “It’s important for me to be able to do this, because it’s also the hardest thing I can possibly do as an artist: to play a public concert with precision and passion, accuracy and emotion, for an hour and a half, just me and the guitar,” she said. “It’s really me at my best.”
King shares more about her musical evolution as well as her advice for aspiring musicians in the 2020 conversation with CSMA below.
Tell us a little about yourself. How did you begin playing and performing music?
I started playing guitar at age four and I guess I just didn’t really stop. I had my first professional success at age 22 and it’s been my job ever since.
Did you have access to music education in school?
I did! I played drums and percussion in the school band since age 9. All of my musical education comes from those years.
Tell us about a great music teacher you had.
Joe Bader brought me up into the high school band when I was still in middle school. I think he recognized that I had talent because he set me to learn some really difficult snare drum rudiments. He was an excellent educator and very supportive, but he also knew how to make me push myself.
How often do you practice and/or rehearse? How do you balance teaching and performing?
I find myself practicing and rehearsing while creating a new project or just before making a new record. Otherwise, I’m just playing—for me, there’s no method or difficulty involved. I just play for the love of music.
Teaching has become part of performing for me since I sometimes give master classes when I’m invited to perform. It’s always amazing to examine what you do, in order to pass it on.
You now have your own record label. What inspired you to create your own label and what are your goals with the artists you work with?
I turned a room in my house into a studio and helped some people record here and there, while I got better at engineering. Treya Lam, the other artist on my label, made a record called Good News that I engineered and produced. My goal is to work with artists who need intimate support in order to produce and release their recordings.
What advice do you have for aspiring musicians?
Just keep going. Try to be happy where you are. Do your best and let go of the results.
*Expletive removed.
