Above: Kottke in concert, Kansas City, 2008
Leo Kottke
Born September 11, 1945
Athens, Georgia, U.S.
Genres American folk music
Americana
New Acoustic
American Primitive Guitar
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945, Athens, Georgia, U.S.) is an acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including partial loss of hearing and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage in his right hand, to emerge as a widely recognized master of his instrument. He currently resides in the Minneapolis area with his family.
Focusing primarily on instrumental composition and playing, Kottke also sings sporadically, in an unconventional yet expressive baritone described by himself as sounding like “geese farts on a muggy day”. In concert, Kottke intersperses humorous and often bizarre monologues with vocal and instrumental selections from throughout his career, played solo on his 6- and 12-string guitars.
Born in Athens, Georgia, Kottke moved with his parents so frequently that he was raised in twelve different states. As a youth living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was influenced by folk and delta blues music, notably that of Mississippi John Hurt. Kottke learned to play trombone and violin before 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 the United States Navy Reserve, when the hearing in his other ear was also damaged.
Above: Kottke at City Winery, New York City, March 2014
After being discharged from the Naval Reserve because of his partial loss of hearing, Kottke attended St. Cloud State College (now St. Cloud State University), in Minnesota, but left before completing his studies, choosing instead to hitchhike around the country, busking for a living, before finally settling in the Twin Cities. He arrived at the Scholar Coffeehouse in the Cedar-Riverside area 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 recorded 6- and 12-String Guitar (also known as the “Armadillo album”, after the animal pictured on its cover) for John 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 agent Denny Bruce signed Kottke to Capitol Records, and in 1971 Capitol released Kottke’s first major label record, Mudlark.
In the early 1970s, he recorded with vocals and backing musicians on albums. In 1972, he released Greenhouse and, in 1973, the live My Feet Are Smiling and Ice 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 to Chrysalis Records.
In the early 1980s, Kottke began to suffer from painful tendinitis and 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. He 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 smaller Private Music label. Private Music was considered a new-age music label in the Windham Hill style, and Kottke often found his music categorized as such during this period. After the reflective A Shout Toward Noon, in 1986, he took a brief break from recording before returning with Regards from Chuck Pink in 1988.
Above: Kottke at the Clearwater Festival, 2007
Kottke released an album annually from 1989 to 1991: My Father’s Face, followed by That’s What and then Great Big Boy, which featured a guest appearance by Lyle Lovett. Two years later, he returned with Peculiaroso, produced by Rickie Lee Jones. The solo album One Guitar, No Vocals was released in 1999. In 2002, Kottke and Mike Gordon (the bassist from the band Phish, which was on an extended hiatus) collaborated on Clone, an album featuring instrumental work 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.
Between these two duet albums, he released a solo album, Try and Stop Me (2004). He received an honorary Doctorate in Music Performance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee on May 18, 2008, where he gave the commencement address.
Leo Kottke discography
Albums
Studio albums
Year Album US Label
1969 6- and 12-String Guitar Takoma
1970 Circle Round the Sun Symposium
1971 Mudlark 168 Capitol
1972 Greenhouse 127
1974 Ice Water 69
Dreams and All That Stuff 45
1975 Chewing Pine 114
1976 Leo Kottke 107 Chrysalis
1978 Burnt Lips 143
Balance
1981 Guitar Music
1983 Time Step
1986 A Shout Toward Noon Private Music
1988 Regards from Chuck Pink
1989 My Father’s Face
1990 That’s What 24
1991 Great Big Boy
1994 Peculiaroso
1997 Standing in My Shoes
1999 One Guitar, No Vocals
2004 Try and Stop Me RCA Victor
Collaborations
Year Album Label
2002 Clone (with Mike Gordon) RCA Victor
2005 Sixty Six Steps (with Mike Gordon)
Live albums
Year Album Label
1969 12-String Blues Oblivion Records
1973 My Feet Are Smiling Capitol
1980 Live in Europe Chrysalis
1995 Live On The Spot