I had the pleasure of seeing Kaki about 10 years ago when she was just starting out, opening up for David Lindley. She was very young, probably 19 or 20, very cute. She walked out on stage, just her and her acoustic, and nobody had any idea who she was (her first album wasn't even out yet...)
She introduced herself and talked for about 3 minutes, sounding like a typcial late teens girl from the 90's ("You know, like WOW this is SOOOOO COOL!!!!") and we all braced ourselves for what was sure to be another "Jewel" singer/songwriter act. She started playing, and every jaw in the place dropped (and this was a David Lindley crowd, we're used to funky weird people with fantastic musical ability...) I've seen other acts with similar style (Mike Hedges mainly), but Kaki's music always struck a chord with me more readily.
The minute I saw August Rush, I was positive it was her playing.
