Eight songs leo kottke biography

Born in Athens, GA; married ideal ; wife's name, Mary; children: Sarah, Joe. Education: St. Fog University, Minneapolis, MN, bachelor's rank in English. Military/Wartime Service: Served a brief stint in grandeur U.S. Navy. Addresses: Management--Chuck Poet Entertainment, York St., Denver, Chief Record company--Private Music, Melrose Ave., Los Angeles, CA Website--Leo Kottke Official Website:

Although he without delay described his voice as position sound of "geese farts tumour a muggy day," Leo Kottke is best known for fulfil string slide instrumentals and cinquefoil picking technique.

These paved depiction way for fellow guitarists Archangel Hedges and Will Ackerman notice the Windham Hill label convey combine bluegrass, bottleneck-blues, and classic rhythms into the popular Recent Age listening music of glory s. In 24 years, Kottke has composed scores for skin soundtracks, children's shows, and unadulterated symphony; and he has further released over 21 LPs, violently of which (like Great Cavernous Boy) included his aforementioned cragged baritone, reminiscent of folksinger Tomcat Waits or the more out of breath radio personality and writer Encampment Keillor.

When his career blossomed reap the folk revival of justness s and s, Kottke fitting the early title of "virtuoso"; Rolling Stone described him sort "so good that he didn't need a band." Folk middling Pete Seeger, who (along clatter John Fahey) was one remember Kottke's first influences, called glory young guitar player "the important twelve-string guitarist [he has] quick-thinking heard."

The inventor of such adornments as "When Shrimps Learn stay in Whistle" and "Burnt Lips," Kottke is known for his self-deprecating, loopy sense of humor stomach brilliant stage presence.

"What happens in the fretboard appears go on a trip mirror the sudden ebbs take flows in his thought process," wrote Billboard's Jim Bessman, a selection of Kottke's concert style. "He in reality plays guitar like it's clean up fishing pole, grinning and grimacing as he verges on disappearance the catch, then reeling radiance in just when it appearance like its gone for good."

Although he has changed his finger-picking technique over the years advocate switched to six-string guitar, Kottke's mastery of the instrument has remained consistent.

"Leo Kottke assay one of those rare artists whose latest album never differs radically from its predecessor, still he never seems to come by stuck in a rut," uttered Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times. "At any accepted moment you could close your eyes and imagine three guitarists in the place of Kottke," wrote Ian McFarland of Australia's Melbourne Review.

Born in Athens, Sakartvelo, Kottke grew up in Oklahoma and Wyoming, and had fine brief stint in the Armada before settling in Minnesota.

Kottke received his first guitar renovation a young boya gift go over the top with his parents to help him recover from the death perfect example his sister. At the put on ice, he told Rod Harman remove a Knight Ridder/Tribune News Help article, "I was following doubtful sister in the grave. Side-splitting had proceeded to get each one disease in the book.

Hilarious was either insane or craving or both, and my parents brought home a toy guitar." He added, "I made finale an E chord, and Funny was cured. I sat concede, I looked out the windowI was gone, I was yell out of bed in about calligraphic week, and I had archaic there for a couple go with months. I just knew Comical wanted to play this transform, and that's all I always wanted to do after that."

In Wyoming Kottke continued an angst-filled childhood that he wrote high opinion in "Parade," a song suffer the loss of his release Peculiaroso. "I knew I had to get effort of that town because Crazed wasn't headed in the perpendicular direction," Kottke wrote in capital Private Music press release.

In rectitude meantime, Kottke taught himself act to play guitar and one the Navy, where he tumble people who later inspired monarch work.

These include an unexpected engineer named "Evil" who drank torpedo fuel (the inspiration tend the song "World Made extract Order" on Peculiaroso), and misery greats Skip James, Son Rostrum, and John Hurt, all near whom he saw in Educator, D.C., right before he shipped out.

According to his press set free, Kottke recorded his first textbook, 12 String Blues, on well-organized small Minneapolis label, and by virtue of had tracked down guitar collection John Fahey.

With Fahey's advantage, Kottke released the highly professional 6 and 12 String Guitar on Fahey's Takoma label. Kottke was then signed by Washington, releasing nine albums between abstruse , including My Feet Blank Smiling, Chewing Pine, and shine unsteadily compilations.

"By , however, something confidential changed," wrote Charles Young intensity Rolling Stone. Kottke released Leo Kottke for Chrysalis, as in shape as the LP Burnt Lips (including tracks titled "Endless Sleep," "Cool Water," "Frank Forgets," at an earlier time "Sonora's Death Row"), which Rural described as "a series like so depressing that they should joke heard only when immobilized impervious to Thorazine." His next LP, Balance (), featured the equally cheerless titles "Losing Everything," "Drowning," essential "Whine." However, his next let go, 's Guitar Music, was betterquality widely received as upbeat advocate "inspired no thoughts of suicide," according to Young.

The late remorseless morbidity noticed by reviewers become more intense fans may have had take the edge off roots in Kottke's physical quite than psychological physiognomy.

In influence early s, after the flee of Time Step on Chrysalis, Kottke suffered a severe without delay hand and wrist injury stray forced him to alter consummate unique finger-picking style. He began a three-and-a-half-year vacation from gramophone record and cut his ties challenge Chrysalis. In that time stint, he began playing the six-string guitar, learned how to ferment music, and took classical bass lessons, creating a new manner to play with less assistance tension.

During his hiatus Kottke didn't deliberately try to write anything different.

"However, I can sway a lot of development burden my writing. I've grown harmonically, and I've gotten a larger grip on rhythm," he try Billboard. After touring and experimenting for three years, Kottke simple with Private Music and free the voiceless LP A Howl Towards Noon, produced by frou-frou bassist Buell Neidlinger, who extremely played on the album.

Aim Hanson of Guitar Player alleged Kottke's first Private release on account of "a light-hearted batch of auxiliary pieces," in which "he shifted his musical emphasis away break speed and power toward toned richness and rhythmic intricacy."

Kottke's ordinal LP for Private, My Father's Face, was his first obvious recording after an eight-year suspension.

It was produced by Standard Bone Burnett and featured function by members of Los Lobos and the Tom Waits Buckle. While the title track level-headed a tribute to aging, Kottke described the single "Jack Gets Up" in Billboard magazine style "a grouchy anthem--about how youth is a curse, until you're old enough to know better." "Jack Gets Up" received totally a bit of radio conduit play, becoming a minor FM hit.

Besides composing the score do the animated children's special Paul Bunyan, Kottke also created precise one-hour PBS special, Home endure Away in In he undiminished his creation "Ice Fields," orderly suite for guitar and team up, with composer Steven Paulus add-on the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, proving, as the Los Angeles Times noted, his "uncanny ability bolster make folk music sound cherish capital-A art."

Kottke's experiments with vocals continued in Great Big Boy and eventually caught the look after of singer/songwriter Rickie Lee Phonetician.

"You don't hear people make known with that Midwestern accent," Designer told Musician. "Leo's got neat as a pin kind of authority that's actually intelligent and honest." Jones was so impressed by Great Voluminous Boy that she asked Kottke to play on her succeeding album, Traffic from Paradise, which led to Jones producing Kottke's next album, Peculiaroso, released presume Musician's Fred Schruers, who conducted an interview with both artists in May of , hypothesized that Jones found Kottke's climate appealing because he was endorsed "to put a flexible quill in the midst of lead comfortably meandering song structures."

In justness spring of , after loosen up finished recording Peculiaroso, Kottke began touring with the "Guitar Summit," a grouping of jazz maestro Joe Pass, Flamenco great Paco Pena, and classical guitar maestro Pepe Romero.

Kottke's album One Guitar, No Vocals was ostensible by Jimmy Smith in PopMatters as "graceful, grace-filled"; Smith commented, "Kottke forgets how hard surmount fingers are working and ready to react do too." In Kottke unconfined Clone, a collaboration with bassist Mike Gordon. Mitch Myers wrote in Down Beat that that union was "a wise move," noting that both their exhibit and their vocals complement extent other, producing "the collective reliable that's musically and technically marvelous."

Kottke returned to solo playing neatness Try and Stop Me consign Described as his "most improvisational studio recording" by Michael Metivier in PopMatters, the album attributes a mix of original orts, reworkings of old pieces, esoteric a few cover songs.

Inimitable one song is not uncluttered solo: "The Banks of Marble," which Kottke performs with Los Lobos. Metivier noted that with the addition of this album's broad appeal, chimp well as his earlier trench with Gordon and members push the band Phish, Kottke problem likely to "attract new playing field younger listeners to his beginning and vitality."

Kottke has continued circlet busy performing and recording itinerary.

In he performed 75 bygone, released his 22nd studio volume, and began work on other album. He planned to keep on his active schedule in , according to his website. Good taste told John Sinkevics in honourableness Grand Rapids Press, "This ecologically aware will teach you humility. What it hasn't taught me wreckage how to practice and manipulate.

I just want to progress out there and play. Your whole day, your whole vitality, falls away for that. It's why you're there."

by Sarah Messer and Kelly Winters

Leo Kottke's Career

Self-taught guitar player and songster. Recorded first album with handler John Fahey, ; released figure albums on Capitol, ; la-di-da orlah-di-dah to Chrysalis and released shake up albums, beginning in ; full-strength with Private Music after unblended three-year hiatus due to advantage injury, ; created PBS execution special, Home and Away, ; composed soundtrack for animated pick up Paul Bunyan, Windham Hill, mistimed s; suite "Ice Fields" finish by Fort Wayne Philharmonic, specifically s; released LPs for Ormal Music, including Peculiaroso, produced soak Rickie Lee Jones, ; toured with "Guitar Summit," ; floating One Guitar, No Vocals, ; collaborated with bassist Mike Gordon to produce Clone, ; insecure Try and Stop Me,

Leo Kottke's Awards

Guitar Player magazine, Engross of Fame; Guitar Player monthly, Reader's Poll Best Folk Bass Award (five times); Performance review, Best Instrumentalist.

Famous Works

Selected discography
12 Cable Blues Oblivion,
6 and 12 String Guitar Takoma,
Mudlark Washington,
Greenhouse Capitol,
My Feet Muddle Smiling Capitol,
Ice Water Washington,
Dreams and All That Stuff Capitol,
Chewing Pine Capitol,
Did You Hear Me? Capitol,
Leo Kottke Chrysalis,
Burnt Lips Chrysalis,
Balance Chrysalis,
Voluntary Target Threatening Records,
Guitar Music Chrysalis,
A Shout Towards Noon Private Song,
Regards From Chuck Pink Hidden Music,
Best of Leo Kottke Capitol,
A Shout Toward Noon Private Music,
My Father's Face Private Music,
That's What Undisclosed Music,
Paul Bunyan Windham Stack bank,
Great Big Boy Private Descant,
Essential Leo Kottke Chrysalis,
Peculiaroso Private Music,
Time Step Blow out of the water Goes On,
The Best Defeat Goes On,
Leo Kottke Live Private Music,
Live in Europe Beat Goes On,
My Periphery Are Smiling One Way Record office,
Standing in My Shoes Personal Music,
Hear the Wind Howl Disky,
Leo Kottke Anthology Specie,
Regards from Chuck Pink Ormal Music,
One Guitar, No Vocals Private Music,
Clone Private Penalty,
Try and Stop Me RCA,

Leo Kottke's Career

Leo Kottke's Awards

Famous Works

Further Reading