Leo Kottke - the Original Source of my Fingerstyle Guitar Exposure

I have not yet met Leo Kottke but I hope to someday. He is truly the reason why I was originally interested in fingerstyle guitar. When I was about 16, my boss at the time, Al Gagnon, from the Geology and Geophysics department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in my home town of Falmouth, MA, let me borrow the album 6 and 12 String Guitar, by Leo Kottke. This was around 1992 and he knew I was dabbling in the guitar a little and I though Neil Young was the greatest acoustic guitar player in the world at that time.

So Al let me borrow the vinyl record that he probably bought in college, which thankfully I was able to play because my former boss, Sheila Griffin, gave me her old record player and old stereo equipment. CD’s were well on their way into record stores by this time so record players were becoming more difficult to come by. This was before the quasi renaissance of vinyl that’s been happening lately. He said something like “You think you’re any good? Just listen to the Fisherman when you get home and tell me tomorrow if you’re any good.”

Well, I did what he said and placed the needle on side B, track number 4, the Fisherman. This was truly a defining moment for me, hearing this tune. I basically decided that I want to play like Leo Kottke someday. Being in such awe of Jimi Hendrix was not what it had been before. I still would like to strive to play in the style of Jimi Hendrix through my Berklee training but I knew from that moment on that acoustic guitar was going to be my main passion from here on out, although I didn’t figure out how to get there until about 13 years later.

Here's an old video of Jack Fig from very early in Leo's career. This tune came out originally on 6 & 12 String Guitar. Nearly brought tears to my eyes the first time I heard it. When I heard the live version on My Feet are Smiling 13 years later it had a similar effect!