King is known for her percussive and jazz-tinged melodies, energetic live shows,[1] use of multiple tunings on acoustic and lap steel guitar,[2] and her diverse range in different genres.

She worked alongside Eddie Vedder and Michael Brook contributing music for the soundtrack to Sean Penn's Into the Wild, for which the trio received nominations for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

[citation needed] Convinced that her break in music would come from drumming, King played in bands in high school with classmate Morgan Jahnig, who would later become the bassist of Old Crow Medicine Show.

[8] While her later work involves more of a band format, Everybody Loves You is King's only fully acoustic guitar album, with the exception of light singing on the hidden bonus track, "The Government."

Produced by David Torn, Legs to Make Us Longer was released on Epic's Red Ink Imprint on October 5, 2004 to strong reviews.

At the end of her tour for Legs to Make Us Longer in 2005, King departed from her previous musical direction[10] out of a desire to escape being pigeonholed as a solo instrumental artist.

Filled with more melodic pop tunes than previous albums, Dreaming of Revenge was released on March 11, 2008 to highly positive reviews.

[13] On March 4, 2008, iTunes released a full version of Dreaming of Revenge featuring the bonus track "I Need A Girl Who Knows A Map".

Dubbed 'The "No Bullshit" Tour', King did smaller shows throughout the US and UK that were specifically focused on acoustic works from her first albums along with stripped-down versions of her newer songs.

Ranging lyrically "from exuberance and anger to heartbreaking melancholy, and sonically from experimental pieces to accessible pop," Junior showcases her further maturation as a well-rounded artist that continues to defy categorization and expectations.

But in contrast to that record, which was marked by deep textures and layers as well as unusual instrumentation, Junior was specifically made with only three musicians in mind – in this case King, multi-instrumentalist Dan Brantigan and drummer Jordan Perlson.

[17] She later appeared as the musical guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, sitting in with The Roots as a part of the house band, and began a US-based tour.

[18] When asked by Premier Guitar Magazine what her plans were after completing her tour, King responded "I've been on the road for four months straight.

[19][20] Before beginning the tour, King performed with some of these instruments at the opening of an exhibit of Picasso's guitar paintings at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

The collection reveals the evolution of her songwriting while offering a glimpse of a young guitarist doing daring things on her instrument before she grasped the significance of any of it.

In 2014, King collaborated with the visual experience company Glowing Pictures to construct a multimedia production in which the guitar is used as a projection screen to tell a story.

Projections of a creation myth including genesis and death were cast onto Ovation Adamas 1581-KK Kaki King Signature 6-String Acoustic guitar customized specifically for the production.

"[citation needed] The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body debuted at Brooklyn's BRIC Theater in New York City in 2014, and was to tour extensively in 2015.

[25] In August 2017, King made a course on digital pedalboards with online music education platform Soundfly, demonstrating many of the techniques she used in The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body tour performances.

The live show debuted worldwide and online in late October 2020, first recorded at the Ferst Center for the Arts in Atlanta, Georgia.

King's fingerstyle playing combines fret-tapping with slap bass techniques, using the guitar for percussive beats, as well as sound layering and looping.