Maine’s King Kyote to make Ohio debut days after dropping debut album

His listening ranged from Cephas & Wiggins’ Piedmont blues fingerpicking to the Rolling Stones’ roots rock.

King Kyote has shared stages with legendary artists, including Taj Mahal, Molly Tuttle & The Golden Highway, The Record Company, Houndmouth, and Robert Randolph & The Family Band. He also represented his home state on NBC’s “American Song Contest” with his song “Get Out Alive,” which was released on Atlantic Records in 2022.

“With music, it’s an art where there’s always been a really strong appreciation for the people that have paved the way and come before,” King said. “I’m overwhelmingly stoked and kind of blown away by those moments of getting to be around or play on the same stage as your idols, people that were there for the inception of modern rock ‘n’ roll.”

King Kyote’s debut record, “King Kyote,” is a nine-song collection of eight singles previously released, plus a new song, “Black Camaro.” The album wears its influences on its sleeve, calling heavily upon many of the aforementioned blues artists, along with The Allman Brothers Band and some Southern rock.

Currently living in Portland, Maine, he is also thoroughly influenced by the mixed bag of folk, alternative rock, and singer-songwriters that the coast helps incubate.

The full album, chiefly recorded at The Halo studio in Portland, will be available on vinyl Sept. 17. Seven songs will be released digitally.

In an age where singles have arguably more weight than the album, by virtue of the album’s importance being impeded by shorter attention spans, King briefly talked about the status of that industry concept as a current independent artist.

“The Holy Grail for me is still the album, a cohesive body of work that you poured your heart into,” King said. “With constantly putting new music out, what happens is you almost feed into how streaming is killing music. You’re accelerating things fast. In a lot of ways, you’re kind of feeding the beast.”

But at this point, he says, despite his approximately 50,000 monthly Spotify listeners, the songs he releases still feel new to most listeners.

“The bigger you get,” King said, “the more you can kind of go back to that old school way of releasing music. It’s not like you’re trying to get shots on goal. I’ve already climbed the mountain. Here’s my artwork. Take it or leave it.”

Jon King has put years into his craft as King Kyote. From surfing Maine’s frigid waters to bleeding fingers on guitar strings, he’s taking that analog spirit out of his home state and onto the road.

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