Leo Kottke - Live 2026

Leo Kottke is an American acoustic guitarist known for his fingerpicking style, which combines blues, jazz, and folk music and produces syncopated, polyphonic melodies. Born in Athens, Georgia and raised in twelve different US states, Kottke discovered the guitar at age eleven as his central means of expression, inspired by the country blues of Mississippi John Hurt and other musical influences, and developed his own sound characterized by fingerpicking on the twelve-string guitar.

He released his first album in 1968 at the legendary Scholar Coffeehouse in Minneapolis, and the attention of guitarist John Fahey led to a contract with the renowned Takoma label, followed later by albums on Capitol Records such as the classic "Mudlark." Kottke has toured successfully throughout the USA, Europe, and Australia for decades, and in the 2000s he celebrated a surprising comeback with Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Leo Kottke has received multiple awards, including two Grammy nominations and an honorary doctorate from the University of Wisconsin.