“There are guitar players who are good, and there are guitar players who are really good. And then there’s Kaki King.”

That’s how the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl recently described the 28-year-old six-string sensation, who guested on a track for the Foo Fighters’ last album. Grohl is hardly alone in his assessment. King has garnered favorable comparisons to such finger-style giants as Michael Hedges, Alex De Grassi and Leo Kottke. Essentially self-taught, the Atlanta native burst on the scene with her debut album in 2003, unfurling a flashy, percussive, two-handed technique that she had been developing since adolescence.

“I looked around and saw that there were great jazz players, great speed-metal players and great guitarists who went toward classical stuff,” King says. “But I was drawn toward something more experimental. I wanted to go deeper into the guitar, using alternate tunings and finger-picking. On my own, I developed a competency with solo acoustic guitar that I didn’t know I had.”

Ironically, on her latest album Dreaming of Revenge, King tempers her innovative six-string work in service to her most accessible songwriting to date. Produced by Malcolm Burn, the album is divided equally between dazzling instrumentals and tracks that feature King’s airy vocals. Having shifted her focus to electric guitar in recent years, King continues to create the soundscape textures familiar to longtime fans, but a distinctive pop component has been added to the mix.

“Malcolm was into the idea of having long, simple, beautiful, slow melodies on top of the crazy guitar playing I do,” King explains. “I gave in to that, and it proved to be the right move.”

Between rehearsals, King talked from her home in New York about her evolving work on guitar and the factors that helped shape her style.

What prompted you to team with Malcolm Burn?
He just seemed to have the right ideas. He refers to himself as an auteur, yet he’s willing to push the envelope and try different things. I was interested in working with someone who has a sound that’s distinct to them as a producer, but who also experiments and pushes sound boundaries. That alone made me feel he was the right guy to do this project with.

For more, get the latest Issue of Performing Songwriter, ISSUE No. 109