Leo Kottke

Few guitarists have turned a run of setbacks into a sound as recognisable as Leo Kottke's. The American acoustic player builds his fingerpicking from blues, jazz and folk, weaving syncopated, polyphonic melodies. Partial hearing loss and a tendon injury in his right hand nearly ended his career, yet he earned wide recognition as a master of his instrument. He lives near Minneapolis with his family and, in concert, alternates solo guitar pieces on six- and 12-string instruments with humorous, often bizarre monologues.

Born in Athens, Georgia, in 1945, Kottke grew up in twelve states as his family moved, and in Muskogee, Oklahoma, folk and delta blues, particularly Mississippi John Hurt, shaped him. He hitchhiked and busked before settling in the Twin Cities, where he began performing at the Scholar Coffeehouse in 1966. His debut, 12-String Blues, appeared on the independent Oblivion label in 1969, and Mudlark followed on Capitol in 1971. In the early 1980s tendinitis forced a change of picking style, and his 2002 album Clone, made with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, was the first of several collaborations; their 2020 release Noon was Kottke's first studio album since 2005.