The Wake

If Leo Kottke were to ever get sick of playing guitar (please, God, may that never happen) he could easily make a career out of storytelling. In addition to being a self-taught guitar virtuoso, Kottke has an oddball wit like no other. At his annual Thanksgiving weekend show at the Ordway Center, the Minnesota favorite proved that he can effectively fill the room with the sounds of his guitar, and between songs, with laughter from an enthralled audience.

An intimate Leo Kottke performance is something to be appreciated by guitarists and non-guitarists alike. His playing was, as it always is, impossibly virtuosic and clean sounding. His fingers plucked out intricate, bright melodies while still maintaining a steady, bouncy bass in the low strings. Adding to the complexity of his sound were the harmonics he so nonchalantly dropped in, and the occasional use of a slide.

The guitarist entered the theater with his twelve-string in hand and gave a slight wave as he walked to the chair in the center of the stage. In addition to the chair, there was only a guitar stand and a microphone on stage — no elaborate backdrop or set design to speak of. Without a word, Kottke sat down and broke right into the upbeat instrumental “Disco.” After playing a second song on his twelve-string, the guitar master looked around and said, “If someone backstage could bring me my six-string. It’s the exposed-looking one on the table back there.” To the cheers of the audience, a man brought out the other acoustic guitar, which Leo played for the rest of the set.

Kottke took no time finding his stride; the music was incredible from the very start. After a few songs, he broke out the stories and the quirky jokes. “I was looking at one of those height-weight charts the other day, and realized we’re all pretty fat,” he said, in lieu of introducing one song. Before another, a cover called “From Pizza Towers to Defeat,” he said, “This song was written by Frizz Fuller about the last steady job he ever had at a place called Pizza Towers. That was over thirty years ago now.” Ranging from bizarre to insightful, his banter was always amusing.

Kottke is always a humble performer, and had no problem stopping a few measures into a song and starting it over. On one occasion, it took three attempts to make it past the initial seconds of a song. “You’ll never see Britney Spears do this,” he said as he cleared his throat and restarted.

Throughout the night, the guitarist had more to say on pop music, telling a story about the first time he heard “Alley Oop” by the Hollywood Argyles and playing the evening’s best blend of guitar prowess and vocal quality, “Rings.” The song, which I remembered hearing at the previous year’s Thanksgiving show, was also featured on his latest release with Mike Gordon, Sixty Six Steps (2005). With its catchy beat and play-on-words lyrics, the track seemed to embody the simultaneous virtuosity and lack of seriousness that the guitarist can represent; Leo Kottke can use the most mundane pop material to create music that goes unrivaled in demonstration of skill and taste.

The songs that Kottke writes, in particular his instrumentals, show us a composer who is full of ideas. Tunes like “Snorkel” and “Too Fast” contain several interlocking yet unique themes. Each motif could stand alone, but take on new meaning in the context of the larger songs. In concert, such songs demonstrate the range of this musician, and his ear for subtleties. For all the insight he gave into the meanings behind the names of songs and anecdotes about their performance, Leo had little to say about writing, an insight that would be interesting to hear.

Minnesota obviously holds a lot of meaning for Kottke, who had settled here at the time he recorded his first album, 1969’s 12-String Blues. Before playing his encore, the classic “Vaseline Machine Gun,” a nostalgic Leo told his audience, “I played this song for the first time in Minnesota, at a place called The Scholar, which burned down twice and no longer exists.” The song, which has never sounded better, filled the room. With a simple, “Thanks for coming, and I hope to see you next year,” and a bow, the guitarist left the stage, ending this year’s installment of the best tradition in the holiday season, seeing Leo Kottke at the Ordway Center.