Happy 70th birthday to Leo Kottke
September 11, 2015 5:54 PM   Subscribe

Here's a live set by Leo Kottke, the phenomenal acoustic guitarist, who turns 70 today.

Here's another.

I don't know when those videos are from.

He mostly just plays guitar, but he also sings occasionally.

If anyone is interested in buying one of his albums, I recommend 6 and 12 String Guitar or One Guitar, No Vocals.

While Leo Kottke is usually at his best when playing a totally unaccompanied guitar, his song "Up Tempo" is a great little instrumental he did with a band.

(Previously.)
posted by John Cohen (30 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
From the Sessions on West 54 set (first link): "How many of you have picked up a guitar because of Leo Kottke?" (raises hand)

Happy birthday indeed, to a great guitarist.
posted by blob at 5:56 PM on September 11, 2015


I saw Leo play a couple of years ago. He is a brilliant guitarist and completely batshit insane, but in a fun way.

He's done a couple of albums with Mike Gordon, who is also kind of batshit. Good stuff.
posted by bondcliff at 6:02 PM on September 11, 2015


A huge influence on my dad (a folk and fingerstyle guitarist par excellence) and therefore on me (a metal / funk guitarist of questionable skill) since I was raised listening to him. His technique always made me stop what I was doing and listen, even in my teenage years when I violently hated all of "Dad's Stuff." The world is richer for having him in it.
posted by jake at 6:13 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Dad too. I gotta call him. This reminded me. Thank you. <3
posted by jake at 6:14 PM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]


We saw him play outdoors in a city park a few years ago. So great.
posted by Malla at 6:28 PM on September 11, 2015


Kottke is 70?

Oh, wait, different Kottke.
posted by monospace at 6:36 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


He's one of the reasons I learned to play guitar. Been listening to him since I was a teenager, and have seen him a few times. He's very self-deprecating about his voice, but I love it - and also his songwriting skills.

Try these:
Rings
Machine No. 2
His cover of Eight Miles High
Louise - a classic country heartbreaker
Tilt Billings and the Student Prince

In 1988 or 89 he was the subject of a TV documentary, Home & Away. It's available in segments on YouTube.

Love, love, love. Thanks for the post (and the reminder of what an enormous crush I had on him).
posted by Miko at 6:51 PM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]


Oh, wait, different Kottke.

As far as I know, Leo Kottke has no relation to Metafilter's own Jason Kottke, of kottke.org fame.
posted by John Cohen at 6:52 PM on September 11, 2015


Thank you so much for the post! I have loved him for what feels like forever.
posted by pipoquinha at 6:58 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


My college roommate was really into Leo Kottke. We were freshmen at Loyola, on the far north side of the city of Chicago. One day, my roommate discovered that Leo Kottke was doing a show in Woodstock, Illinois, which is way the hell out in McHenry County in the northwest burbs. Neither one of us had a car, but Metra, the commuter rail, went basically right up to the Woodstock Opera House where the show was. The problem was, there were no trains back to the city by the time the show was over. But we really wanted to go! So, being 18 years old, dumb, broke, and not from the Chicagoland area, we decided to just kind of wing it. The show was great. Completely weird between song banter. Afterward we buttonholed him as he was trying to get to his Taurus or whatever it was parked on the street by the theater, which was fun. And then, after wandering around the deserted little downtown for a little while, we decided to sleep under the bleachers of Woodstock High School. Which we did, completely uneventfully, and took the first train back to the city in the morning.

I am over 30 now and there isn't a musician on earth I'd sleep under the bleachers for. Anyway thanks for the post.
posted by evisceratordeath at 7:04 PM on September 11, 2015 [10 favorites]


When I was 14 I bought Leo Kottke's album Greenhouse and was hooked (I still have it). This was my favorite song. (Naff imagery in that video, sorry)

Listening to it now, oh my god, I can't believe that was one of my favorite songs when I was 14, and I used to love to sing it too... My poor parents!

Anyway, Happy Birthday Leo Kottke!
posted by maggiemaggie at 7:08 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Such a fine Fahey foil, too.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:27 PM on September 11, 2015


I love the man and his work so deeply. I once snuck into a concert he was playing. Then I realized that no matter how much I love him, sneaking into a Leo Kottke concert has all the swagger of stealing cable to watch C-SPAN.
posted by gusandrews at 7:30 PM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]


My favorite song of his, oddly haunted by my childhood (and twinned by Chris Van Allsburg books): Morning Is The Long Way Home
posted by gusandrews at 7:33 PM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


He played near me this year, and I didn't know about it until it was over. I was so disappointed!

I learned my thumb-over-the-neck technique from his songs when I was starting out...
posted by sutt at 8:17 PM on September 11, 2015


Damn, I forgot to say Happy Birthday!
posted by sutt at 8:19 PM on September 11, 2015


Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon doing Sweet Emotion. It's a completely different take on the song, yet somehow imbues the same wild feeling of the song in a swampy kind of way. Brilliant.
posted by ashbury at 8:24 PM on September 11, 2015 [4 favorites]


Have loved his stuff for a long time. The guitar work in Eight Miles High, so airy.
posted by Oyéah at 8:28 PM on September 11, 2015


Saw him in Oakland at this sushi restaurant/jazz club a couple years ago. Yoshi's, I think? I wasn't familiar with his music, but my buddy convinced me to go. Fantastic player, charming sort of a rambling story teller with a deep voice. Excellent gig all around.
posted by Existential Dread at 8:28 PM on September 11, 2015


"There's about five fetishes you have to go through before you can play the trombone."

My Feet Are Smiling, great live album. Greenhouse is also tops. Oh, and the 1995 album Live really captures the Kottke experience with, among other things, an extended anecdote about visiting a morgue as a child. One of the all time greats. Thanks for the reminder.
posted by Lorin at 8:57 PM on September 11, 2015


Personal favorite: Jack Gets Up
posted by TheShadowKnows at 9:01 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Here he is talking about the time he met Bob Dylan.
posted by mhoye at 9:05 PM on September 11, 2015


Yeah, there is a great version of "Jack Gets Up" on the 1995 Live album. It's got some lines that have rattled around in my head for years, Santa Claus modified snow peas ... or a car key or a car key ... The studio version of that song is truly bizarre. Some of his albums with accompaniment are quite good though, Standing in My Shoes for one.
posted by Lorin at 9:12 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


One of my favorite all-time performers. I was thinking of the stories I could tell, and then realized (old people tend to repeat themselves) that I already said most of it here 8 years ago.

A few years ago my wife and I saw him in yet a 5th different state (VT, where Mike Gordon showed up for the encores) and I was happy to see that he's still got it. Hooray for Leo!
posted by LeLiLo at 9:24 PM on September 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon boots on the trade-friendly torrent tracker e-tree. The one called Mississippi Nights is a direct SBD of a killer show with plenty of Kottke talk!
posted by Lorin at 9:27 PM on September 11, 2015


Kottke on "Rings" from the aforementioned bootleg:
This was written for a wedding that everyone knew should not be taking place—everybody but the bride and groom. This is a horrible song! ... because it was written to celebrate this marriage, by two people who knew that this was the last thing these two friends of theirs should be doing. [...] So if you find that the lyrics are a little sweet, maybe remembering what a disaster this whole event was will help to soften the... blow? Help to stiffen the kitsch? What am I trying to say?
posted by Lorin at 9:53 PM on September 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


I tootled Beatles songs on my guitar until I got a copy of Dreams and All That Stuff and fell in love with Mona Ray. I still play thanks to the inspiration of Kottke and others but I still can't play Mona Ray worth beans.

It's amazing how effortless his fingering looks and that's on a 12 string. I'd better get back to practicing!
posted by jabo at 9:56 PM on September 11, 2015


I'm another who was inspired to play fingerstyle guitar after listening to him. Such a great player, as well as a hilariously droll storyteller as he tuned the twelve strings on his guitar every which way.
posted by umbú at 10:18 PM on September 11, 2015


Happy Birthday, Leo!

Mark Hanson and Stropes.com each have excellent books/tutorials for many of his tunes. I have the books, but alas, I lack the skills. Yet, I keep trying!
posted by CincyBlues at 4:03 AM on September 12, 2015


No "geese farts on a muggy day" tag?
posted by Wolof at 12:52 AM on September 14, 2015


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