Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke(born September 11, 1945) is an Americanacoustic guitarist.He is known for afingerpickingstyle that draws onblues,jazz,andfolk music,and forsyncopated,polyphonicmelodies. He has overcome a series of personal obstacles, includingpartial loss of hearingand a nearly career-ending bout withtendondamage in his right hand, to emerge as a widely recognized master of his instrument. He resides in theMinneapolisarea with his family.

Leo Kottke
Kottke at theClearwater Festival,2007
Background information
Born	(1945-09-11)September 11, 1945 Athens, Georgia,U.S.
Genres	American rock,Americana,acoustic rock,American primitive guitar
Occupation	Musician
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1966–present
Labels	Capitol,Chrysalis,Private Music,Oblivion Records
Website	Official website

Kottke at theHerbst Theatre,San Francisco, California, January 27, 2007

Focusing primarily on instrumental composition and playing, Kottke also sings sporadically, in an unconventional yet expressivebaritonedescribed by himself as sounding like "geese farts on a muggy day".In concert, Kottke intersperses humorous and often bizarremonologueswith vocal and instrumental selections from throughout his career, played solo onsixandtwelve string guitars.

Biography

Early life and career

Born inAthens, Georgia,Kottke moved with his parents so frequently that he was raised in twelve different states.As a youth living inMuskogee, Oklahoma,he was influenced by folk anddelta bluesmusic, notably that ofMississippi John Hurt.Kottke learned to playtromboneandviolinbefore trying the guitar and developing his own unconventional picking style.

A mishap with a firecracker permanently damaged the hearing in his left ear,a condition that would be exacerbated by exposure to loud noise during firing practice while he served in theUnited States Navy Reserve,when the hearing in his other ear was also damaged.

Kottke attended the University of Missouri for two semesters, where he was a member of theDelta Upsilonfraternity. He left Mizzou after his second semester. After beingdischargedfrom the Naval Reserve because of his partial loss of hearing, Kottke attended St. Cloud State College (nowSt. Cloud State University), inMinnesota,but left before completing his studies, choosing instead tohitchhikearound the country,buskingfor a living, before finally settling in theTwin Cities.He arrived at the Scholar Coffeehouse in theCedar-Riversidearea of Minneapolis in the autumn of 1966 and soon was a regular performer.There, he recorded his debut album,12-String Blues,which was released on the independent Oblivion record label in 1969. He recorded6- and 12-String Guitar(also known as the "Armadillo album", after the animal pictured on its cover) forJohn Fahey's Takoma Records later the same year. It remains one of the works most closely associated with Kottke and has been re-released many times on various record labels. Fahey's agentDenny Brucesigned Kottke toCapitol Records,and in 1971 Capitol released Kottke's first major label record,Mudlark.

Kottke in concert, Kansas City, 2008

In the early 1970s, he recorded with vocals and backing musicians on albums. In 1972, he releasedGreenhouseand, in 1973, the liveMy Feet Are SmilingandIce Water.Kottke closed out his contract with Capitol with his seventh album,Chewing Pine,in 1975. By then, he had gained an international following largely due to his performances at folk festivals. With his 1976 eponymous release, he moved toChrysalis Records.

Injury and new playing style

In the early 1980s, Kottke began to suffer from painfultendinitisand related nerve damage caused by his vigorous and aggressive picking style (particularly on the 12-string guitar).As a result, he changed his picking style to a classical style, using the flesh of his fingertips and increasingly small amounts of fingernail rather than fingerpicks, and changing the positioning of the right hand to place less stress on the tendons. A flat pick is often used in conjunction with his fingers, a style called hybrid-picking. He has studied more classical and jazz-oriented compositional and playing techniques.

He took a long break from recording and performing and simultaneously moved from his relationship with major labels to the smallerPrivate Musiclabel. Private Music was considered anew-age musiclabel in theWindham Hillstyle, and Kottke often found his music categorized as such during this period. After the reflectiveA Shout Toward Noon,in 1986, he took a brief break from recording before returning withRegards from Chuck Pinkin 1988.

Later career

Kottke released an album annually from 1989 to 1991:My Father's Face,followed byThat's Whatand thenGreat Big Boy,which featured guest appearances byLyle LovettandMargo Timmins.Two years later, he returned withPeculiaroso,produced byRickie Lee Jones.The solo albumOne Guitar, No Vocalswas released in 1999. In 2004, Kottke released another solo album,Try and Stop Me(2004).

In 2002, Kottke andMike Gordon(the bassist from the bandPhish,which was on an extended hiatus) collaborated onClone,an album featuringinstrumentalwork and vocals from both musicians. A second album from the pair,Sixty Six Steps,followed in 2005. The duo toured in support of both albums.In August 2020, Kottke and Gordon announced a new collaborative album,Noon,released that month on Megaplum/ATO Records.It was their first collaboration sinceSixty Six Stepsand Kottke's first studio album since 2005.

Kottke received an honorary Doctorate in Music Performance from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukeeon May 18, 2008, where he gave thecommencement address.

Kottke at City Winery, New York City, March 2014

Tunings

Kottke's guitars are often tuned unconventionally; early in his career he heavily usedopen tuning,while in recent years he has used more traditional settings but often tunes his guitars as many as two full steps below standard tuning.

Orchestral works, re-recordings, and other collaborations

In 1976, Kottke collaborated with arrangerJack Nitzscheon the releaseLeo Kottke,which featured Kottke backed by a small orchestral section on a number of tracks. In the later part of his career, he has begun reworking and re-recording tunes he wrote and recorded in the early 1970s.For example, 1999'sOne Guitar No Vocalsoffered a new instrumental version of 1974's "Morning Is the Long Way Home", with thecountermelodyopened up from behind the vocal line, stripped of its original trippy lyrics.

Kottke combined previously recorded tunes into new compositions, notably the mini-suite "Bigger Situation", also released onOne Guitar No Vocals.In 1990, he and composerStephen PauluscreatedIce Fields,a work for amplified acoustic guitar and orchestra in aconcertoformat.Ice Fieldsfeatured five movements, each based on an existing Kottke composition, with orchestral backing and interlude sections.It was premiered by Paulus'sAtlanta Symphony Orchestraand has been performed occasionally since but has not been released on record, partly because of the high cost of producing a recording with a full orchestra.

Discography

Main article:Leo Kottke discography

Videography

1. Home & Away(1988), Wienerworld
2. Home & Away Revisited(2006), Mvd Visual

External links

• Official website
• Kottke fan site
• Leo KottkeatIMDb
• Leo KottkeatAllMusic
• Leo Kottkediscography atDiscogs
• "Kottke and Gordon: Calypso-Brushed Guitars"by David Dye, fromNPR'sWorld Cafe,November 24, 2005; accessed August 8, 2014.
• The Leo Kottke/Procol Harum connection;accessed August 8, 2014.
• InterviewonMinnesota Public Radio,November 9, 2007; accessed August 8, 2014.