Leo Kottke

[OAITW r.2.0]

He sure could play a slide.....

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[world wide wally]

1. Some serious guitar pickin'

[OAITW r.2.0]

2. Louise.....

Skip the intro, go to about 60% of the video to hear this great tune...

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[rsdsharp]

3. I saw him in concert several years ago in Des Moines.

It was in a small studio theatre in the Civic Center. My wife and I bought tickets with another couple. A few days before the concert I learned that I would have to be out of town for work that night. My wife didn’t want go without me, so we told our friends to give our tickets to someone else.

Suddenly, the day before the show, my trip was canceled. Hoping there might be a couple of single seats left, I went to the box office. To my surprise, they had two together — front row, just left of center. The stage was about 10 inches high, and we sat about 8 feet from Kottke, while our friends and their guests sat in the sixth row. The theater only sat about 150 people, so their seats were good, but not as good as ours.

[OAITW r.2.0]

5. Great story, what a great night you must have had.....nt

[EarnestPutz]

4. Leo Kottke is one of those musicians that I periodically go back to....

....and listen to and admire again. His stuff never disappoints. For no good reason, other than they are both "Leo's", I usually listen to a little Leo Sayer soon afterwards. "When I Need You" also holds up well over time.

[rsdsharp]

8. Well his vocals are kinda disappointing.

He describes his singing voice as “geese farts on a muggy day.”

[EarnestPutz]

9. I knew that my comment would engender some disagreement, but I didn't think....

....that it would come from Leo himself. Music appreciation.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. I've loved him for forty years. ❤ nt

[yonder]

7. Gosh, it seems like he's been around forever. Ageless.

'Louise' is usually the song that comes to mind for me. I've heard him make fun of his own voice but happen to think he sings rather well.

We saw him 15 years ago or so. Halfway through he made a crack about "I'm going to play the next one in the farm". What? Then he went on to explain "higher up the neck — where all the gunk and grime collects on the fingerboard". Most guitarists know what he meant. For some reason that joke has always stayed with me. The concert was great, of course, and from a fine musician.

[ProfessorGAC]

10. My 2 Leo Stories

One: In 1974 I was playing harp & if one was there, a piano with a coffee house trio.
We opened for the opener for Taj Mahal at Wise Fools in Chicago.
A couple weeks later, we did a date at Northwestern U. Early, so on way home we went to Wise Fools, because we got along with the backstage boss.
He let's us in the backdoor and we hear a guy playing 12 string. A lot going on.
I asked the guy "How many guys are up there?". He said just one.
I peak around the corner, & sure enough all that was going on was one guy! I went out and bough the album Ice Water, the next day!

Two:
Knew an electrical engineer that was a VERY skilled luthier. He built, with his own patented bracing pattern, a double neck acoustic guitar. GD beautiful piece of work. Around 1978 or 9.
Anyway, I talked in him to going with me to see Leo at Kingston Mines (I think).
He brought the guitar with him, and gave it to Leo. By today's standards, that would be a 9 or 10 grand guitar.
2 years later he gets a call from Leo. Wants his address to he can ship him back the guitar.
Turns out, Leo signed a deal with Martin & Sigma.
They wanted to reproduce the guitar in their Japanese factory, and the gave my buddy $250,000 for his patent.
He tacked an extra. He got serial number 1. Even Leo didn't get #1.
Yep, he got a quarter million, his original guitar back and serial #1 for giving Leo that guitar.

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. Great stories! Thanks for sharing....

great life experiences, you remember those. Like the time I was at a small waterfront bar in Portsmouth, NH and Jorma Koukonen and Phil Lesh were having beers at the bar. No one was disturbing them and I figured that I didn't want to be the first....