Leo Kottke

Born in Athens, Georgia, Kottke moved with his parents so frequently that he was raised in twelve different states.[2] As a youth living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was influenced by folk and delta blues music, notably that of Mississippi John Hurt.[2] 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,[2] 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.[3]

Kottke attended the University of Missouri for two semesters, where he was a member of the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He left Mizzou after his second semester. 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.[2] 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.[2]

Kottke in concert, Kansas City, 2008

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.[4]

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).[3][5] 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.

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 guest appearances by Lyle Lovett and Margo Timmins. Two years later, he returned with Peculiaroso, produced by Rickie Lee Jones. The solo album One Guitar, No Vocals was released in 1999. In 2004, Kottke released another solo album, Try and Stop Me (2004).

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.[6] In August 2020, Kottke and Gordon announced a new collaborative album, Noon, released that month on Megaplum/ATO Records. It was their first collaboration since Sixty Six Steps and Kottke's first studio album since 2005.[7]

Kottke received an honorary Doctorate in Music Performance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee on May 18, 2008, where he gave the commencement address.[8]

Kottke at City Winery, New York City, March 2014