Grammy-nominated guitarist, singer, and songwriter E.G. Kight, raised as she was in the Southern gospel tradition, is a breath of fresh air in contemporary blues. She has been at the fore of the Chicago blues scene since the late '90s, delivering high-energy performances rooted in country, jazz, soul, R&B, and gospel and releasing award-winning studio albums like 2004's Takin' It Easy, 2008's It's Hot in Here, 2011's Lip Service, and 2021's The Trio Sessions.
Kight was born in Dublin, Georgia, and was raised in a musical family. She started singing around the house as a toddler, and she began taking guitar lessons from her grandmother when she was five. Her parents had a wealth of great country music in the house, including albums by Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Eddy Arnold, so she was raised with gospel music in church and mostly country music at home. She began performing country music professionally in junior high school, and one night after a show, a fan asked her if she'd ever heard of Koko Taylor. After hearing some of Taylor's singing that night, she knew where her heart would lead her. She knew of B.B. King, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and of course Elvis Presley, but it was Taylor's blues vocal styling that hit Kight like a ton of bricks. She began in earnest to learn all she could about Taylor and other women blues singers, and began working some blues into her country act. Kight found that her audiences hadn't been exposed much to deep blues. She left a secure living playing country music and started over again, reinventing herself as a blues singer.
Through the years, Kight has collaborated or shared the stage with a variety of country and blues musicians including George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Conway Twitty, Luther Allison, Taj Mahal, and of course, her idol Koko Taylor. Taylor even recorded one of Kight's songs, "Fuel to Burn," for her Royal Blue album for the Alligator label. Kight's albums include Have I Got Blues for You, a 1996 release for her own label, Blue South Records, and four other releases: Come into the Blues in 1997, Trouble in 2000, Southern Comfort in 2003, and Takin' It Easy in 2004. She recorded her second album, Come into the Blues, at the old Capricorn Records studios in Macon, Georgia. She wanted to pay tribute to Otis Redding, a native of Macon, so she recorded "I've Been Loving You Too Long." When the Georgia Music Hall of Fame recognized Redding's contributions to music in 2002, Kight was invited to perform at a ceremony unveiling a bronze statue of Redding. Her last album for her own Blue South label, Takin' It Easy, included eight original Kight compositions and four cover tunes, including her take on Duke Ellington's "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues" and an acoustic version of the Allman Brothers' "Southbound." Guests included Ann Rabson, pianist for Saffire the Uppity Blues Women, guitarist Chris Hicks of the Marshall Tucker Band, and former Roomful of Blues saxophonist Greg Piccolo.
Long Island-based M.C. Records signed Kight ahead of the release of her next album, 2008's It's Hot in Here. Eleven of the 12 tracks were written or co-written by Kight, and the LP featured a blend of straight-ahead blues and Americana-influenced tunes. In 2011, following a bout with meningitis and encephalitis, Kight released the soul-searching Lip Service, which included a moving tribute to Taylor ("Koko's Song") and a duet with harmonica legend John Németh. She continued in that vein on 2014's assured A New Day, a set of ten upbeat originals filled with her signature crafty guitar work. 2021's The Trio Sessions saw Kight conscript longtime bandmembers Gary Porter (drums, percussion) and Ken Wynn (guitar/dobro) for a joyful, stripped-down acoustic set.
