Leo Kottke, an old favourite seldom heard these days.

Kittyfrisk

I loved the Leo Kottke album back in the day & came across this old live footage.
Nowhere to hide when playing like this 

Tannin

I used to really like that stuff. Someone played me one of his earliest albums, Six and Twelve-string Guitars in about 1973 and it blew me away. I probably still have a Kottke CD somewhere in my dusty shed. 

But listening to it afresh, it's not really doing anything for me musically. Tastes change. I no longer care for fingerpicked 12-string, either to play or to listen to, and after being primarily a 12-string player for many decades I sold my good Cole Clark 12 earlier this year, and gave my old, not-so-good Yamaha 12 to the local op shop just last week. I only have 6-strings now (counting my one and a half baritones as six strings).

None of which is to take anything away from his extraordinary skill or the dedication it must have taken to master an instrument so throughly.

PS: hasn't acoustic guitar amplification improved a million miles since 1977!

sev112

Is that a 9 string he is playing - only the low 3 strings doubled up?  If so I quite like that, not come across it before

historyisjunk

I like some of his old stuff a lot, I think he has a very good voice too.
Saw him at Glasgow Fruit Market quite some time ago, when I think he played 6 string a lot of the time.
I remember him being very funny between songs & seemed an engaging gent.

bertie

always get him mixed up with Jorma Kaukonen 

ICBM

historyisjunk said:

I like some of his old stuff a lot, I think he has a very good voice too.
Saw him at Glasgow Fruit Market quite some time ago, when I think he played 6 string a lot of the time.
I remember him being very funny between songs & seemed an engaging gent.

This thread prompted me to get another copy of ‘Greenhouse’ which I had years ago, but eventually gave away, mostly because I didn’t like his vocals - I wondered if it was worth revisiting since I liked the guitar playing.

I can see why I didn’t like his voice then - he sounds like an old man, even though he must have been quite young (it’s from the early 70s) and definitely not ‘cool’ in the way most of the singers and bands I liked at the time were, but I actually like it now I’m a lot older too . The playing is phenomenal as well - it always was. I think I’ll get some more albums now…

As an aside I’ve also rediscovered that I do actually like John Denver, who’s very underrated as a guitarist, although obviously more famous as a singer and songwriter - I just found his singing too cheesy when I was younger, after hearing him a lot as a child (my gran was a big fan). It’s still cheesy, but good.

Anyone who can play a 12-string with that clean a technique deserves respect - Kottke uses heavy strings and tunes down quite a long way (C# usually), but even then it’s not easy at all.

Kittyfrisk

ICBM said:

historyisjunk said:

I like some of his old stuff a lot, I think he has a very good voice too.
Saw him at Glasgow Fruit Market quite some time ago, when I think he played 6 string a lot of the time.
I remember him being very funny between songs & seemed an engaging gent.

This thread prompted me to get another copy of ‘Greenhouse’ which I had years ago, but eventually gave away, mostly because I didn’t like his vocals - I wondered if it was worth revisiting since I liked the guitar playing.

I can see why I didn’t like his voice then - he sounds like an old man, even though he must have been quite young (it’s from the early 70s) and definitely not ‘cool’ in the way most of the singers and bands I liked at the time were, but I actually like it now I’m a lot older too . The playing is phenomenal as well - it always was. I think I’ll get some more albums now…

As an aside I’ve also rediscovered that I do actually like John Denver, who’s very underrated as a guitarist, although obviously more famous as a singer and songwriter - I just found his singing too cheesy when I was younger, after hearing him a lot as a child (my gran was a big fan). It’s still cheesy, but good.

Anyone who can play a 12-string with that clean a technique deserves respect - Kottke uses heavy strings and tunes down quite a long way (C# usually), but even then it’s not easy at all.

"Geese farts on a muggy day" is Leo Kottke's infamous metaphor from about 1969, commenting on his singing voice.
Got to love such a self deprecating attitude 

JezWynd

Love his take on Eight Miles High.