Leo Kottke

Aug. 22, 2007

Leo Kottke is considered by many to be “a” if not “the” master of guitar. He will headline a three-day “Guitar Masters Series” at Interlochen Center for the Arts (see related article). At age 61 with a career that now spans four decades, Kottke finds himself in high demand on stage and in the workshop.
He is a second-generation American Primitivism guitarist, a genre created by John Fahey in the late ‘50s that incorporated tra-ditional country blues fingerpicking techniques in avant-garde/neo-classical compositions. Kottke is credited with raising the bar of this style of music with his most famous album, the 1969 instrumental “6-and 12-String Guitar.”
Kottke started playing music early – first the violin and then the trombone, before settling on the guitar. As a teen, a firecracker went off near his ear, giving him partial but permanent hearing damage that escalated during his time in the Navy. Later in his career he battled tendonitis in his fingers that required him to change his picking style and take some time off.
His most famous quote came when Rolling Stone asked him in the late ’60s why he didn’t sing more.
Kottke responded, “My voice sounds like ‘geese farts on a muggy day.’” The quote, as he says, “haunts me still today.” Kottke
has found his most recent recording
success in collaborating with Phish bassist Mike Gordon.
Their first collaboration in 2002 was the album “Clone”. They followed up in 2005 with “Sixty Six Steps,” and the two toured together in support of both albums. The CD and the tours both did well and introduced Kottke to a new generation of fans. Kottke took time from his tour to answer a few questions.

NE: You started out with the violin and trombone and ended up on guitar. How did that transition happen and why do feel you connected with the latter over your first two instruments?
Kottke: The guitar took me over. It’s like a welcome disease. The others just seemed likely at the time, although I’m noticing now how strange it is that I’d put up with instruments I had little feeling for. They were my whole life until the guitar; it was sort of like getting married for the wrong reason.

NE: Recently you have re-worked some of your earlier pieces. Interesting concept. Why?
Kottke: Catching things I missed, mainly. Sorta’ like the violin: years later I saw what I’d missed. Also, you always write for yourself, and there are things I want now that I didn’t know existed the first time through. Looking back I have some stuff I’ll never play again, and some pieces were just right the first time.

NE: After 40 years your guitar playing has evolved, but what about your voice? Do you still feel it sounds like “geese farts on a muggy day?”
Kottke: Nah, it’s fine for me now. Singing is the weirdest art. If you sit beside a born singer and “feel” what happens, you get some clues. I’ve done that with Tony Bennett, Linda Ronstadt, Rickie Lee Jones and Iris Dement. Sat right beside them and sometimes singing myself. They just open their mouths. And if you’re singing with them, their voice automatically tunes yours. They take over and things happen you never dreamed of.

NE: On your current “Sixty Two Steps” CD, you perform the great Fleetwood Mac tune “Oh Well,” written by Peter Green. Were you at all influenced by Green’s guitar work, a fan of his or just liked the song?
Kottke: I’d done “World Turning,” as well, and I opened a few shows for the band way back. I love Christie McVie’s singing. And it’s hard to make a good record. They have, with and without Green, made great albums. Recording is changing drastically and I don’t see much coming to improve on what they’ve done. Between Mac and Steely Dan, that “recording” art has been covered. We’ll always have great performances, but the rest of it will be
run through the mp3 reduction -- good for the devices, sad for the ears.

NE: Are you in the studio working on a new album? If so, will it be another collaboration with Gordon, someone else or solo?
Kottke: Mike and I just fell into the last two records, and that’s likely to happen again; but, like the other times, we won’t know it until we’re in the middle of it. Right now, as always, I’m just touring around, playing, and looking for new tunes.

To catch up on Leo Kottke or to hear a sampling of his work, visit leokottke.com. For tickets to his concert or the rest of the Guitar Masters Series at Interlochen, call the box office 800.681.5920.