A Bit About The Author

This fabulous year capped off the best decade of music ever to endow the planet: the decade that began with folk music ruling juke boxes, auditoriums, and fretted instrument kegfests (aka "hootenannies") and culminated with Leo Kottke about to be discovered by the world after honing his unrivaled skillset before the captivated coffeehouse audiences of Minnesota.

... and, praise the fret gods, I was in the middle of it all: learning my belated first barre chord from my Kingston Trio-cloned roommates, soaking up lessons from mercifully-patient instructors who held their own as Leo's coffeehouse colleagues, lucking onto my beloved 1943 Martin D-18 (complemented by a not-too-shabby 1966 D12-35 and Son House-worthy 1932 National Duolian), and—luckiest of all—walking into my final college-era guitar class to spot the breathtaking teenage axe-slinger who would become my gigging partner and gourmet cook wife of 53-years-and-counting.

My journey to write this book began on June 29th during Kottke's Scholar Coffeehouse gig when I handed him a check for the princely sum of $9.00 for two autographed copies of his Oblivion Records S-1/S9-321 "Leo Kottke 12-String Blues" fresh off the cutting lathe. Two weeks later I was off to Air Force active duty, Leo was making plans for his move to Takoma, and the Scholar was soon to fade away into the Oblivion Record Shop. The best of times would be no more.