Leo Kottke turns 75 today. This amazing, innovative acoustic guitarist was born on September 11, 1945.
He's known for playing 12-string guitars and slide guitar, and for being influenced by John Fahey, who launched his career. But Kottke is an original.
Wikipedia on Kottke:
He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He overcame a series of personal obstacles, including partial loss of hearing and a nearly career-ending bout with tendon damage in his right hand, to emerge as a widely recognized master of his instrument.…
As a youth living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, he was influenced by folk and delta blues music, notably that of Mississippi John Hurt. [Video of him.] Kottke learned to play trombone and violin before trying the guitar and developing his own unconventional picking style.
Here's a full concert from 1977:
Kottke is usually at his best playing alone, but here's a great little instrumental he did with a full band, "Uptempo" (also the first song in the concert above):
I highly recommend his 1999 album One Guitar, No Vocals, which is exactly what the title says, yet so much more. Here's the first track from the album:
Kottke wrote and played some of the music for the great movie Days of Heaven. [UPDATE: Here's a post on my movie blog where I chose Days of Heaven as my favorite movie of 1978.]
