| Track | Album |
|---|---|
| The Fisherman | 6- & 12-String Guitar |
| Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring | 6- & 12-String Guitar |
| So Cold In China | Circle ‘Round The Sun |
| Cripple Creek | Mudlark |
| Louise | Greenhouse |
| Last Steam Engine Train | Greenhouse |
| Pamela Brown | Ice Water |
| Sonora’s Death Row | Burnt Lips |
| Jack Gets Up | Live |
| Morning Is The Long Way Home | One Guitar, No Vocals |
| Bonus Track | |
| Living In The Country | My Feet Are Smiling |
Leo Kottke ranks high among the very finest guitarists that America has ever produced. His wide-ranging and free-spirited musical curiosity, combined with his superb technical skills on the instrument, have ensured that he has remained a relentlessly creative artist for most of his musical career. He is also a highly skilled guitarist with a delicacy of touch and a mastery of tone which only the very best of his contemporaries could match. He’s adept at a wide variety of musical styles, ranging from the fingerstyle technique, influenced by the great acoustic blues guitarists – of which he is a master – to the more jazz, country and classically influenced guitar styles in which he has come to excel. He has also moved at times into more experimental ambient territory, most notably in the music he has written for movies like Days Of Heaven (1978) and Little Treasure (1985).
Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia in 1945. During his youth, his family moved around a great deal (his father worked for the Veterans Administration department), and this meant that he was exposed to a wide variety of musical influences. He even played trombone for a time which led to his playing for a number of marching bands. In his youth, he was also involved in two separate accidents, which left him with permanent hearing deficits in both ears. The second of these led to his discharge from the naval reserve and eventually to his deciding to pursue a musical career. Settling in Minneapolis, he began playing regularly at the Scholar Coffeehouse.
It was there that he recorded his first record, 12 String Blues (Live At The Scholar). Leo Kottke’s break-out album, however, was his 1969 release, 6- & 12-String Guitar,whichappeared on John Fahey’s label, Takoma Records. While Kottke’s first record had little commercial success, it did attract attention from his peers. Indeed, Fahey was sufficiently impressed by his work up to that point to produce the album himself. 6- & 12-String Guitar included several stunning displays of Kottke’s virtuosity (including classics like The Driving Of The Year Nail, Crow River Waltz, Watermelon, Jack Fig). Several of these were played at blisteringly fast speeds, which highlighted the assured nature of his guitar technique. Loath though I was to leave out some of these tracks, in the end I decided to pick two which displayed the wide variety of Leo’s musical skills.
The first, The Fisherman, is a beautifully fluid display of Kottke’s fingerstyle technique. The superb live version from the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival, which appears on the 2002 album, Instrumentals: The Best Of The Chrysalis Years, is also well worth checking out – see clip below:
By contrast, Kottke’s superb arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Jesu, Joy Of Man’s Desiring is evidence of the eclecticism of his musical tastes. Dinu Lipatti’s version of the piano transcription of the piece still remains my favourite rendition of it but Leo runs him pretty close. Although they are very different records, it is arguable that the ‘Armadillo’ album (as it is known) had something of the same effect on young American guitarists as the release of Bert Jansch’s ‘Blue’ album had on their British counterparts.
Leo Kottke has disowned his third record, Circle ˈRound The Sun, and has never allowed its release on CD. He dislikes what he sees as the muddy quality of the sound on the recording. Despite this, I have chosen So Cold In China from it for inclusion. For me at least, it is one of his finest songs. It also features one of his best lyrics. These also tip the hat to Blind Lemon Jefferson’s Long Lonesome Blues and may be one of the reasons why Bob Dylan has expressed his admiration for the song.
Mudlark, Kottke’s fourth album in 1971, was his first to feature backing musicians. Their presence – the great Wayne Moss on bass and Kenny Buttrey on drums – gives his version of the classic traditional tune Cripple Creek a propulsive force which was absent from his earlier albums. While Leo may not be the greatest singer technically, certain songs suit his voice far more than others. The next selection, his version of Paul Siebel’s classic song, Louise, stands out as one of the best of these. His rendition brings out the poignancy in the song, which fellow Toppermost author, Kasper Nijsen has aptly described as “a beautiful lament to a mistreated girl of pleasure”.
His vocal on the next selection, Tom T. Hall’s Pamela Brown, displays the keen wit which is a central feature of Leo’s live performances. This rendition also shows off his tasty slide work.
By contrast, the next pick, John Fahey’s Last Steam Engine Train is, as Doc Watson puts it here a perfect vehicle for including “some good country runs”. In the studio version, Kottke does of course, take full advantage of these opportunities.
The next pick, the Kevin ‘Blackie’ Farrell classic western ballad, Sonora’s Death Row, is a song that seems to attract excellent cover versions. Among the best of these are those by Robert Earl Keen, Michael Martin Murphey, and Dave Alvin. Even in this impressive company, however, Leo’s rendition stands out for its brooding and atmospheric quality.
In the early 1980s Kottke suffered a painful bout of tendonitis (partly caused by his blistering way of playing the guitar), which eventually forced him to alter his playing style. During this period, he took time off from touring and studied classical guitar as a way of finding a new technique which would put less strain on his fingers This enforced inactivity may have also played a role in his move towards more reflective lyrics. This tendency is well captured in my next selection, Jack Gets Up. Although it originally appeared on his 1989 album, My Father’s Face, I have chosen the version from his 1991 Live album.
Its slightly rawer quality suits the themes of the song better than the studio version. Kottke himself has described the song as a “grouchy anthem – about how youthfulness is a curse, until you’re old enough to know better”. It also touches on the daily battle between mundane rituals and the search for some kind of transcendence (almost like a John Cheever short story set to music). Kottke’s playing here also clearly demonstrates what Thom Hickey has described as his “rare combination of finesse and feeling”. Thom’s fine piece on the song can be found here.
My final selection, Morning Is The Long Way Home,is from Kottke’s 1999 instrumental CD, One Guitar, No Vocals. Although he had previously recorded it as a song, in my opinion this beautifully dextrous instrumental version works better than the original version. In the years since 1999, Kottke has continued to release fine records, the most notable of which are his recent duet albums with Mike Gordon of Phish. As this shows, he is also still out there touring. The richness of Kottke’s work also means that this piece can only represent the tip of the iceberg – there are so many gems that I can only advise readers to dig in and explore further.
Bonus Track
One of the key elements in Leo Kottke’s live performances are his brilliantly droll and witty monologues. This intro to Living In The Country gives a taster of those, while it also serves as a tribute to one of his musical heroes, Pete Seeger. This story about Bob Dylan is another example of his wit.
The Leo Kottke Connection (archived)
Leo Kottke on meeting Bob Dylan
Jimmy Leslie interview (Guitar Player, 2021)
Jimmy Leslie talks to Julian Lage about Leo (Guitar Player, 2024)
E.E. Bradman interview (Acoustic Guitar, 2021)
The Immortal Jukebox Leo Kottke article
Leo Kottke, Reluctant Guitar Hero (Rolling Stone, 2020)
Leo Kottke’s Lifelong Love/Hate Relationship with the 12-string Guitar – Bill Kopp
Andrew Shields is a freelance historian, who grew up in the West of Ireland and currently lives in Sydney, Australia. Along with an interest in history, politics and literature, his other principal occupations are listening to and reading about the music of Bob Dylan and, in more recent years, immersing himself in the often brilliant and unduly neglected music of Phil Ochs.
TopperPost #1,168
Rain Parade
Great article on a great guitarist. And he’s doing Bach decades before younger folkies like Chris Thile, Bela Fleck, etc.
David, thanks for the kind words. Leo is such a superb guitarist. Both Dav(e)y Graham and John Renbourn also recorded Bach ‘tunes’ before the younger guys started to do so.