E.G. Kight

E.G. Kight

E.G. Kight on stage (2007)
Background information
Birth name Eugenia Gail Kight
Also known as The Georgia Songbird[1]
Born (1966-01-17) January 17, 1966
Dublin, Georgia, United States
Genres Chicago blues[2]
Occupation(s) Singer, guitarist, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1980s–present
Labels Blue South, M.C. Records
Website www.egkight.com

E.G. Kight (born January 17, 1966) is an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and songwriter. She has worked with many musicians, including George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, Luther Allison, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, Taj Mahal, B.B. King, and Koko Taylor.[2][3] Kight has recorded seven albums to date and received several nominations for Blues Music Awards, in the categories Contemporary Female Artist and Song of the Year.[2]

Kight is billed as "The Georgia Songbird".[1] Her main musical influence was Koko Taylor.[2]

Life and career

Eugenia Gail Kight was born in Dublin, Georgia. At the age of five her grandmother taught her to play the guitar.[2] In her youth she watched Elvis Presley perform in Macon, Georgia.[4] Initially raised on a musical diet of gospel and country music, she gravitated towards the blues after hearing a recording of Koko Taylor. Already a professional musician in her mid-teens, Kight moved away from playing country songs and began her career in Chicago blues. She appeared regularly on the television program Nashville Now in 1989 and toured extensively in the late 1990s and into the new millennium.[1][4]

Her 1997 album, Come into the Blues, includes a version of "I've Been Loving You Too Long". In 2002, she performed at the ceremony when a statue of the song's writer, Otis Redding, was unveiled at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. The same year, Blue South Records released Trouble. Southern Comfort followed the next year,[2] with Chuck Leavell playing piano; the album contains her cover version of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery".[5]

In 2004, she released Takin' It Easy, which included, along with her own compositions, covers of Duke Ellington's "I Ain't Got Nothin' but the Blues" and the Allman Brothers Band's "Southbound." Guest musicians on the album were Ann Rabson, Chris Hicks (of the Marshall Tucker Band), and Greg Piccolo (formerly with Roomful of Blues).[2] In the same year she was nominated for three Blues Music Awards.[1]

On Kight's 2008 album, It's Hot in Here, released by M.C. Records, she wrote or co-wrote most of the tracks.[2] It attained number one on the root blues chart and on Sirius XM Radio.[3]

Prior to Kight's latest album release, Lip Service (2011), she had two stays in hospital due to a combination of meningitis and encephalitis.[6][7] The album again had musical and production input from Paul Hornsby and contains "Koko's Song", a tribute to Taylor.[8][9] The album also contains a duet with John Németh.[7]

Her songs have been recorded by Taylor, Dorothy Moore, Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, and Shakura S'Aida.[1] She endorses Taylor Guitars.[3] Kight continues to live in Dublin, Georgia, on land that has belonged to her family for four generations.[7]

Discography

Solo albums

Year Title Record label
1997 Come into the Blues Blue South
2002 Trouble Blue South
2003 Southern Comfort Blue South
2004 Takin' It Easy Blue South
2007 EG Live and Naked Blue South
2008 It's Hot in Here M.C. Records
2011 Lip Service Blue South/Vizzitone

[2][3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "E.G. Kight Biography". Oldies.com. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Skelly, Richard. "E.G. Kight - Music Biography, Credits and Discography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "EG Kight / The Biography". Egkight.com. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  4. 1 2 "There's a lot more to EG Kight than just the blues". Knoxville.com. 2013-01-11. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  5. ↑ "Southern Comfort – E.G. Kight: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  6. ↑ "Blues Bytes – EG Kight Part Two". Blues Revue. 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  7. 1 2 3 "Blues Bytes – EG Kight Part One". Blues Revue. 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  8. ↑ "Lip Service – E.G. Kight: Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
  9. ↑ "CD Review: EG Kight's "Lip Service" | The International Review of Music". Irom.wordpress.com. 2011-11-28. Retrieved 2013-03-25.
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