Due to the COVID-19 health crisis, our rescheduled date with Leo Kottke is moving from Sunday, June 21, 2020 to Thursday, January 14, 2021.
Tickets for both the original date and previously rescheduled date, will be honored for the Thursday, January 14, 2021 performance. No new ticket purchase is needed. For those that cannot attend the rescheduled date, refunds are available at the point of purchase.
Please be patient during this time as the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and Ponte Vedra Concert Hall Box Offices are closed until further notice by state mandate. Click the event website link for additional information.
Raised in 12 different states, Kottke 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. He eventually lost some hearing shooting at lightbulbs in the Atlantic while serving on the USS Halfbeak, a diesel submarine. 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.
Kottke 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.)
Kottke’s 1971 major-label debut of “Mudlark” positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Still, 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”.
Kottke has two Grammy nominations, as well as a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He also has a Certificate of Significant Achievement in Not Playing the Trombone from the U of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College.
Doors 7:00pm / Show 8:00pm
