About Diane King
Above all her musical talents, Diane King considers herself a songwriter. Oh, she’s a singer and musician, too — she brings it all — straight from the heart, with her fearless songwriting leading the way. With her new project, SKY, this Nashville-based Americana/country-folk artist delivers her songs with pure vocals, rich harmonies, and a musicality that’s as intentional as it is inspired.
SKY was co-produced by King and the accomplished Stephan Oberhoff (Quincy Jones, Melissa Manchester, Jason Gould). These two creatives built SKY through a deep collaboration and artistic trust. “This was such a true partnership,” says King. “Stephan and I are so aligned in what and how we hear things. He was always so open and respectful of my creative ideas. And, his talent has no end!” SKY doesn’t stay in one emotional lane, it takes you everywhere. From the wide-open joy of love and life to the quiet ache of heartbreak, King’s songwriting holds it all with honesty and grace.
King is a proud child of Appalachia, with a family that is generations-deep in the hills of Southern Ohio and West Virginia. She was raised on music, and musical talent runs in the family. Her mom was always singing and performing. “That’s all I knew – music,” King recalls. “It was around me, and it was in me. I would always go with my mom when she sang at a church or an event where she would sing country songs.” At age 8, King heard Olivia Newton John singing “Let Me Be There” on the radio. It was then she was all-in on music. King says, “From around 8 to 13, I listened to Olivia’s albums and learned the harmony vocals to all her songs. I would read every word on the album cover and study every song.” In her teens, she was introduced to the music of Amy Grant. “Amy was a big influence on me,” says King. “She was a songwriter as well as a singer. I was able to meet her after a show in Charleston, West Virginia. I asked her how I could get into music professionally, and she pointed me in the direction of Nashville. After that, I was laser focused; I got busy getting better as a musician and getting myself ready to move. Two weeks after graduating high school, I moved to Nashville and have lived there ever since.”
It was quite an adjustment moving from a town of less than 1500 to Nashville by herself, but the call was undeniable. She joined a local band, playing keyboards and singing back-up vocals. It was then she discovered songwriting. “I never really worked on songwriting until I moved to Nashville,” King says. “When I heard country singer-songwriter Holly Dunn, it connected all the dots for me at a time when I had been trying to figure out who I was musically and learn my talents. I bought my first acoustic guitar, and it was on!”
King started writing on guitar and playing all around Nashville. She was making connections on Music Row, meeting with and submitting material to producers, publishers, and labels. Despite social anxiety and the challenges of self-promotion, it all paid off, and King was discovered by legendary songwriter Harlan Howard when a mutual BMI acquaintance gave him a demo of King’s songs and he came to see King perform at Nashville’s historic Bluebird Café. Howard began mentoring King and working with her as a songwriter and publisher at his publishing company, Harlan Howard Songs. King says, “Harlan told me, ‘Kid, you have the raw talent, now I’m going to teach you the craft.’ Every song I’ve written since includes that craft of songwriting that he taught me. What an absolute honor to have him as my mentor.”
He told King she should sing her own songs, so, with her love for harmonies, King assembled a vocal trio and named her group Diane King & Little Stone. King sang lead, and powerhouse vocalists Crystal Miller and Paul Ginther added the harmonies to her songs. The trio performed in Nashville and throughout the South and Midwest.
After some years of the artist life, King used her bachelor’s degree in music business from Middle Tennessee State University to land a job at Nashville’s leading music business management firm, Flood Bumstead McCready & McCarthy. King’s roster of clients included Wynonna Judd, Kaki King, and Robert Randolph. “Working with Wynonna and her amazing team was such a joy,” says King. “I still have friendships from that time in my life. In fact, some of Wy’s band members I met back then played on my SKY project. What an amazing experience!”
After a few years, King found she missed the creative side of music. She left that business role to write and sing again, looking for a place to land with her Appalachian-rooted songs. King became part of the International Bluegrass Music Association and is a graduate of their select Leadership Program. She co-wrote with bluegrass songwriter Louisa Branscomb, and their song, “Gone,” was included on Branscomb’s I’ll Take Loveproject on Compass Records and performed by award-winning bluegrass artist Dale Ann Bradley.
King once again assembled a vocal trio, joined a second time by Miller, a stellar vocalist in her own right, and award-winning Nashville songwriter Karen Staley. This trio, which King called Lorena, was pure Americana and bluegrass. The three kicked things off with performances at Nashville’s premiere venues and WSM Radio’s “Coffee, Country and Cody” morning show.
Following the launch of Lorena, King found herself facing the challenge of a cancer diagnosis. Eventually, her health couldn’t sustain the commitment needed to continue the trio. It took over four years of cancer treatment and management, but finally, under the care of Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer center, King reached remission of her lymphoma. Additional recovery time was needed for singing, as her cancer battle included significant trauma to her neck and throat.
In 2023, King was performing for a circle of friends in the Pittsburgh area who strongly encouraged her to return to her music and record a new project. It was that night when King knew it was time for the next chapter. Former bandmate Miller suggested she visit recent LA-to-Nashville transplant Stephan Oberhoff’s studio, The Creation Station East. The two hit it off, and over the next year they partnered in co-producing SKY, King’s new 10-song project.
In addition to the musical contributions made to SKY by Oberhoff and King, they were joined by A-list Nashville musicians with collective experience ranging from the Grand Ole Opry staff band to playing world stages with Tina Turner. The musicians sharing their talents on King’s SKY project were Steve Mackey (bass), Wanda Vick (fiddle, viola, mandolin, dobro), Jack Bruno and Lynn Williams (drums), Bob Britt and Aaron Currie (guitar), Bruce Bouton (pedal steel), Kevin Bate (cello), and Kacee Clanton and Crystal Miller (background vocals).
Diane King is back. With acoustic guitar in hand, vocal clarity, unstoppable songwriting, and the passion of a survivor, she’s bringing SKY — a project built with no compromises. This is music made with heart and backbone, where Appalachian roots meet razor-sharp songwriting and a keen ear for detail. This is real Americana, raw and unapologetic.
https://www.dianekingmusic.com/
For more information, please contact:
Krista Mettler, Skye Media, krista.mettler@skyemediaonline.com
