Leo Kottke--6 & 12 String Guitar

For decades, Leo Kottke would inspire generations of fingerpicking acoustic guitarists (and help pave the way for New Age and contemporary instrumental music), but this 1969 album is the one that started it all. Kottke's brilliant debut was released, fittingly, on John Fahey's Takoma label. Showing the influence of Fahey himself (and Takoma labelmate Robbie Basho), Kottke performs impossibly difficult solo compositions that meld blues, bluegrass, and jazz techniques. Whether surefooted and quick ("The Driving of the Year Nail," "Jack Fig," "The Fisherman") or slow and reflective ("Ojo," "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"), Kottke's instrumental work is simply awe-inspiring. He'd forge an entire career out of this music and eventually incorporate singing onto his albums, but this gem is Kottke at his very best. Essential.

Tracklist:

01. The Driving Of The Year Nail
02. The Last Of The Arkansas Greyhounds
03. Ojo
04. Crow River Waltz
05. The Sailor's Grave On The Prairie
06. Vaseline Machine Gun
07. Jack Fig
08. Watermelon
09. Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring
10. The Fisherman
11. The Tennessee Toad
12. Busted Bicycle
13. The Brain Of The Purple Mountain
14. Coolidge Rising

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