AMP Concert offers innovative and inspiring arts programming throughout New Mexico. A portion of all AMP ticket sales goes to fund free community concerts, workshops, school programs & artist residencies.
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Leo Kottke

at The Lensic
211 West San Francisco Street
Santa Fe NM 87501
505.988.1234
Other Events at The Lensic

Time: 7:30pm     Day: Wednesday     Doors: 7:00pm     Ages: All Ages    
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Tickets cost $34, $39 and $44 (plus applicable service charges). They are also available from the Lensic Box Office (505-988-1234). 

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.

Kottke dropped out of the University of Missouri after a year to hitchhike across the country to South Carolina, then to New London and into the Navy, with his twelve string.

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 debut LP Twelve String Blues, recorded on a Viking quarter-inch tape recorder, for the Scholar's tiny Oblivion label.

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.

Kottke has been awarded two Grammy nominations: for Paul Bunyan (Best Album for Children, 1988) and for the track "Busy Signal" (Best Country Instrumental Performance, 1991).

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.


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