FOLIO
Writing previews can be fun. Mainly because, if the writer is a fan of the artist, there exists the distinct possibility that the writer may actually come face to face with said artist — at least by email perhaps, if not by illustrious phone interview. So it was with eager anticipation that I accepted the assignment to preview Leo Kottke’s upcoming concert at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on Feb. 26.
My first task was to contact the promoters for artist contact info through the wrangle of publicists or agents to secure an interview; to date, my three requests have gone unanswered. Should be easier than the old days — just go to the website and hit the “contact” link. No such link exists for Leo Kottke (hitting “contact” gets you his merch info).
I held off on my last resort, which is that Leo Kottke and I have two mutual friends (not Facebook, mind you, but real friends going back decades.) Reason being was that my degrees of separation are both noted guitarists in their own right and might feel a bit exploited and used by my nosing them up for an email or cell number.
So with deadline looming, I will focus on my knowledge of Leo Kottke, observations of his career and the very curiosities I would have liked him to address for this piece.
Kottke is far more than a guitarist’s guitarist. He’s more like an artist’s artist or an entertainer’s entertainer. He has inspired and placed the stringed instrument in more hands than anyone save Elvis, and he certainly kept the 12-string guitar in the forefront. I’m puzzled why some network exec hasn’t given Leo his own show, since his ability to bemuse an audience all night long without playing a single note is legendary. Only fellow Minnesotan Garrison Keillor can do him one better in the humor vein, but Keillor works at it. Wry anecdotes and convoluted wisdom flow naturally from Kottke’s mind.
Leo Kottke came to prominence in the dawning of the 1970s with his release 6 & 12 String Guitar, an all-instrumental outing that had everyone taking notice of a new direction for the steel-stringed guitar. Kottke quickly became headmaster for a new guitar style dubbed “American Primitive.” The concept was simple: Transform the steel-string “folk” guitar into a respected concert instrument capable of holding its own and relying on its heritage of fingerpicking, open tunings and slide technique, but with sights set firmly on complexity and harmonic maturity taking founding-father-guitarist John Fahey’s ideas one better.
At the very top of my list of questions to pose to Kottke was: “Has the American Primitive ethic come to pass?” (Maybe someone can ask him this between songs at the PV Concert Hall.)
Next in line were several queries about incidents that were anecdotal but nevertheless interesting.
The first time I saw Kottke perform in concert here in Jacksonville was in 1973 at the old Civic Auditorium. A crowd of us living in Gainesville at the time had headed here for the show, and maybe 200 people showed up. We all loved Kottke, but an added bonus was seeing his opening act: a young singer and piano player from Long Island named Billy Joel, who was unknown at that point, still six months away from commercial paydirt of “Piano Man.” I was always curious to know if they were on tour together or if the billing was just a one-off. (Joel seemed burned out and rude but walked off to a standing ovation.)
The laugh-a-minute liner notes to Kottke’s 6 & 12 String Guitar (when he famously compared his singing voice to “geese farts on a muggy day”) mention his boyhood years in Athens, Georgia, where he beat up one Herbie Stipe. Was his victim perhaps a relative of the future R.E.M. frontman, Michael Stipe? Will someone at his upcoming concert please let him know we need to know?
Bob Dylan had wanted Leo Kottke on board for his famous “Rolling Thunder Review,” which revitalized the careers of a few dimming rockers and made new ones for Scarlet Rivera and Ronee Blakley. I can only assume that Kottke had prior obligations, but has he ever looked back on what would have certainly been a major career boost? And does he have any regrets? (My guess would be none!)
In an early interview published in Guitar Player Magazine, Leo Kottke stated that he might enjoy playing in an actual “band,” one like our own hometown-boys-made-good Lynyrd Skynyrd; was he on the level with that? Seriously?
To wrap things up, I would have liked to have heard the guitar master’s own words regarding his near-career-ending bout of tendonitis that he experienced at age 47. Did he really have to relearn how to play? And was it his desire to play “properly” in the classical tradition that turned it around for him?
And at the very least, I would like someone to casually drop a copy of this column into his guitar case — any acknowledgment would be terrific, even if the official response comes from that phantom publicist who never returned my calls.
Follow FOLIO!