When the pandemic put the brakes on his road life, a journey he had been on since the mid-1960s when he was in his early 20s, Leo Kottke couldn’t help but feel like his world had left him.
“In a virus year, the airports and truck stops had left me and that felt almost like home,” he said in an email interview to talk about his Tucson concert on Saturday, Feb. 19. “The first time on stage, by myself, felt like the stage had left me.”
The first time in the pandemic era that he felt musically whole again, he said, was a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan, last fall with drummer Dave King.
“When Dave and I played, it was all new, all of it, so no chance to notice what I’d lost,” said the self-taught guitarist who is celebrated for his fingerpicking guitar style and instrumental fusion of jazz, blues and folk music.
Kottke, a regular on Tucson stages for decades, is bringing King along for his concert Saturday, which is a first for the musician. Usually Kottke performs solo, sprinkling in funny stories between his mostly instrumental performances.
King is only Kottke’s second musical partnership. He and his longtime friend and Phish bassist Mike Gordon have been collaborating for years, producing two albums.
In August 2020, they dropped their third, “Noon,” which was the first collaboration for the pair in 15 years.
“Mike and I were friends long before we even tried to play together,” said Kottke, who until “Noon” had not recorded anything since 2005.
“I really don’t like recording and with the industry changing so fast and musicians taking it in the teeth because of that, it’s been good to concentrate on what I do best and love the most, and that’s playing,” he said. “Nothing like a purpose-built room and everyone in it there for the same reason: music. I can never get closer to the guitar than on stage.”
Last December, Kottke and Gordon performed nine concerts to promote the album. Most of the shows, like the album, were improvised on the spot.
“Sitting in an ordinary room in the middle of the night and playing whatever comes up is magical with Mike,” he said.
“It’s late in the game that Mike and Dave are possible for me,” the 76-year-old Kottke added. “I had a lot of catching up to do. These guys are informed; they know harmony. I’m still a self-taught guitar player. Someday, maybe, if I do my homework, I’ll be a guitarist.”
Gordon would likely disagree with Kottke’s downplaying of his talent. In an interview with Relix music magazine, Gordon called Kottke’s playing “inspiring.”
“No other acoustic guitar player does that for me. I always put him in this category of individuals that I tell people they have to see,” Gordon told Relix.
