A virtuoso guitarist with an unorthodox, percussive style, Kaki King began playing at the age of five with encouragement from her music-loving father.

Last year's Until We Felt Red album saw her moving away from the solo, acoustic sound of her first two records to introduce more varied instrumentation and vocals into the mix.

Having previously worked with Tortoise's John McEntire, King hand-picked producer Malcolm Burn (Emmylou Harris, Patti Smith) for her fourth album Dreaming Of Revenge, released in the UK last week.

It's an evocative and lushly orchestrated record showcasing her lithe fingerpicking. It also sees her play lap steel, bass, drums and keyboards.

"Malcolm spoke of himself as someone who had a defined sound but also wanted to push boundaries and see what new things he could up with," says King. "I felt the same way. I have a defined guitar sound and a set of ideas but was also trying to push the envelope.

"His biggest contribution to the record was saying, You have these great, interesting guitar parts but let's find the simple melodies which are inside these pieces and layer them on top.'"

King is most familiar to British audiences for her contributions to the Golden Globe-nominated soundtrack for Sean Penn's Into The Wild. The film's sound editor had initially used King's tracks as temporary music during editing. Penn liked them so much he ended up asking her to compose additional pieces for the soundtrack.

"They put the images up on a monitor and said, Whatever you feel, just play it,'" she explains. "It was improvisational and going with my gut instinct."

The Duke of York's show will be an intimate date in comparison to her recent guest appearance with the Foo Fighters at London's 20,000-capacity 02 Arena. Dave Grohl introduced her with the words: "There are guitarists who are good and some guitar players who are f***ing good. And then there's Kaki King."

King appeared on the band's Echoes, Silence, Patience And Grace album after Grohl emailed her out of the blue to express admiration for her work.

"He is very cool, funny and enthusiastic," she says. "In London, we played the song we did together and then he put me on the spot and made me do one of my own tracks.

"I had not seen it coming. It was a thrill, like riding a rollercoaster."

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