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An Evening With Leo Kottke comes to Orpheum Theater Center in Sioux Falls, SD on Saturday, May 31. Local presale begins March 13 from 10AM-10PM using code KOTTKE at → bit.ly/3QInM3f. Tickets on sale March 14 at 10AM.All ages | Doors at 7PM | Show at 8PM
Acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia, but left town after a year and
a half. Raised in 12 different states, he absorbed a variety of musical influences as a
child, flirting with both violin and trombone, before abandoning Stravinsky for the guitar
at age 11.
After adding a love for the country-blues of Mississippi John Hurt to the music of John
Phillip Sousa and Preston Epps, Kottke joined the Navy underage, to be underwater,
and eventually lost some hearing shooting at lightbulbs in the Atlantic while serving on
the USS Halfbeak, a diesel submarine.
Kottke had previously entered college at the U of Missouri, dropping out after a year to
hitchhike across the country to South Carolina, then to New London and into the Navy,
with his twelve string. "The trip was not something I enjoyed," he has said, "I was broke
and met too many interesting people."
Discharged in 1964, he settled in the Twin Cities area and became a fixture at
Minneapolis' Scholar Coffeehouse, which had been home to Bob Dylan and John
Koerner. He issued his 1968 recording debut LP Twelve String Blues, recorded on a
Viking quarter-inch tape recorder, for the Scholar's tiny Oblivion label. (The label
released one other LP by The Langston Hughes Memorial Eclectic Jazz Band.)
After sending tapes to guitarist John Fahey, Kottke was signed to Fahey's Takoma label,
releasing what has come to be called the Armadillo record. Fahey and his manager
Denny Bruce soon secured a production deal for Kottke with Capitol Records.
Kottke's 1971 major-label debut, "Mudlark," positioned him somewhat uneasily in the
singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Still,
despite arguments with label heads as well as with Bruce, Kottke flourished during his
tenure on Capitol, as records like 1972's "Greenhouse" and 1973's live "My Feet Are
Smiling" and "Ice Water" found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his
guitar technique.
With 1975's Chewing Pine, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 30 for the second time; he also
gained an international following thanks to his continuing tours in Europe and Australia.
His collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, "Clone," caught audiences' attention in
2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with a recording in the Bahamas called "Sixty Six
Steps," produced by Leo's old friend and Prince producer David Z.
Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance
by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of
Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from the U of Texas at Brownsville
with Texas Southmost College
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Sioux Falls Orpheum Theater Center, 315 N Phillips Ave,Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States
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