6- and 12-String Guitar

6- and 12-String Guitaris the second album byLeo Kottke,a solo instrumentalsteel-string acoustic guitaralbum originally released byJohn Fahey'sTakoma Recordsin 1969. It is popularly known as theArmadillo albumafter the animal illustrated in the distinctive cover art (by Annie Elliott). Although Kottke has hada prolific career as a recording artist,6- and 12-String Guitarremains his best-known album.

6- and 12-String Guitar
Studio albumby Leo Kottke
Released	December 1969
Recorded	Empire Photo-Sound,Minneapolis, MN
Genre	Folk,new acoustic,American primitive guitar
Length	37:23
Label	Takoma(C1024) (later as TAK 7024)
Leo Kottkechronology
12-String Blues (1969) 6- and 12-String Guitar (1969) Circle Round The Sun (1970)

History

The album showcases Kottke's early, hard-drivingpolyphonicfinger-pickingstyle (which eventually led to his developingtendinitisand having to change his playing approach).Even at the fastest tempos the notes are clean and crisp, with a distinctive tone. The album was recorded in one afternoon, in exactly the running order of the album. Most tracks were done in a single take. Kottke doesn't even pause when he audibly smacks the slide on the guitar neck on "The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie." In the liner notes toAnthologyhe states, "We didn't know about sequencing, so the record is in the order it was recorded...The record took three-and-a-half hours to do, and all I had to do was sit down and play everything I ever knew."

True to its title, the album contains performances on both 6- and12-stringacoustic guitars,some using aslide.Although Kottke has included vocals on other albums, this album is all instrumental – the reason being, as Kottke explains in the liner notes, his voice "sounds like geese farts on a muggy day."

All the tracks were written by Kottke exceptJesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,Kottke's arrangement of the familiarBachpiece.

The album had a large influence on, and was an inspiration for, guitaristMichael Hedges,who would later tour with Kottke.

This album has been re-released as anSACD.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Rolling Stone	favorable

Writing forAllmusic,music criticRichie Unterbergerwrote of the album "Kottke's brand of virtuosity, however, is more soothing and easy on the ear than Fahey's. It's far from sappy, though, the rich and resonant picking intimating some underlying restlessness, like peaceful open fields after a storm. Establishing much of the territory Kottke was to explore throughout his career, this release was also one of his most popular, eventually selling over 500,000 copies."Rolling Stonebrought the album to a wider public with its review in 1970 by Carl Bauer, in which he wrote: "With all the shit that has been released recently, it was a distinct pleasure to come across this album... Kottke isn't a new addition to the Page-Beck school of grating, hypertensive guitarists, as if you were expecting that. He's an acoustic guitarist from Minneapolis whose music can invoke your most subliminal reflections or transmit you to the highest reaches of joy... anything in addition to his guitar would be superfluous."

Track listing(with Kottke's notes)

Side One

All tracks are written by Leo Kottke, except where noted

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Driving of the Year Nail" (From an old Etruscan drawing of a sperm cell.)	1:54
2.	"The Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds" (A terror-filled escape on a bus from a man fired from Beaumont ranch.)	3:18
3.	"Ojo" ([shown as "The Ojo" on the label]—Ojo Calientewhere the Zuni hid from Estaban, the Moor, and the Spaniards.)	2:14
4.	"Crow River Waltz" (A prayer for the demise of the canoe and the radar trap without which Federal prisons will have to be rebuilt to accommodate prepubescence.)	3:20
5.	"The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie" (Originally written to commemorateNedicksand a Minneapolis musician's contempt for the three A.M. cheeseburger with a nickel slice of raw.)	2:34
6.	"Vaseline Machine Gun" (1) for waking up nude in a sleeping bag on the shore of the Atlantic surrounded by a volleyball game at high noon, and 2) for the end of the volleyball game.)	3:11
7.	"Jack Fig" (A reluctant lament.)	2:14

Side Two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Watermelon" (While at Watermelon Park Music Festival I had the opportunity to play a banjo in the middle of the night for a wandering drunk. When I finished he vomited—an astute comment on my playing. Made me feel very distinguished.)	3:12
2.	"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"(J.S. Bach—The engineer called this the ancient joy of man's desire. (Bach had twenty children because his organ didn't have any stops))	2:24
3.	"The Fisherman" (This is about the mad fishermen of the North whoseice fishingspots resemble national shrines.)	2:32
4.	"The Tennessee Toad" (Who made an epic journey from Ohio to Tennessee.)	2:40
5.	"Busted Bicycle" (Reluctance)	2:48
6.	"The Brain of the Purple Mountain" (FromA. L. Tennyson.)	2:11
7.	"Coolidge Rising" (While rising from the sink, cupboard doors opened and engulfed his head; while turning to the right to avoid the whole incident he walked into a refrigerator—which afforded a good chin rest for staring at some bananas in a basket.)	2:50

Personnel

• Leo Kottke – 6- & 12-string guitars

Cover design by Annie Elliott (who also did the cover for12-String Blues)

External links

• Read some contemporary and retrospective reviews of6 & 12-String Guitar
• Leo Kottke's official site
• Unofficial Leo Kottke web site(fan site)