The Leo Kottke Anthology is a two-disc compilation of American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 guitarist Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...

's releases on the Takoma

Takoma Records

Takoma Records was a small but influential record label founded by John Fahey in the late 1950s.. It was named after Fahey's hometown, the Washington, D.C. suburb of Takoma Park, Maryland.-History:...

, Capitol

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 and Chrysalis

Chrysalis Records

Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...

 labels, covering the first 15 years of his career. It includes liner notes by Kottke himself for each song and an essay by Mark Humphrey.

A number of compilations have been made of Kottke's music by his various record labels. Capitol had previously released 1971-1976, The Best and The Best of Leo Kottke. Chrysalis had released Essential and Blue Note

Blue Note Records

Blue Note Records is a jazz record label, established in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Max Margulis. Francis Wolff became involved shortly afterwards. It derives its name from the characteristic "blue notes" of jazz and the blues. At the end of the 1950s, and in the early 1960s, Blue Note headquarters...

 released two instrumentals-only compilations in 2003.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger

Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...

 wrote of the album "This has a higher proportion of Kottke's vocals than some might expect, which may mildly disappoint fans who value his guitar virtuosity more than any of his other attributes. It's still a good, well-chosen compilation, leaning most heavily on his first three albums from the late '60s and early '70s, although this comprises less than half the set."

Track listing

• All songs by Leo Kottke except as noted.
• The songs are sequenced in chronological order according to album release.
• The largest representation is from Greenhouse with five tracks included. The least represented is Chewing Pine which contributes only one track.
• There are 12 vocal tracks out of 37 (depending how one counts "Side One Suite")
• "Easter", "The Medley", and "The Train and the Gate" are live recordings.

Disc one

1. "The Driving Of The Year Nail" – 1:55
2. "Ojo" – 2:12
3. "Vaseline Machine Gun" – 3:09
4. "Busted Bicycle" – 2:45
5. "Cripple Creek" (Traditional) – 1:56
6. "Eight Miles High
   Eight Miles High
   "Eight Miles High" is a song by the American rock band The Byrds, written by Gene Clark, Jim McGuinn, and David Crosby and first released as a single on March 14, 1966 . The single managed to reach the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the Top 30 of the UK Singles Chart...
   
   " (Gene Clark
   Gene Clark
   Gene Clark, born Harold Eugene Clark was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds....
   
   , David Crosby
   David Crosby
   David Van Cortlandt Crosby is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. In addition to his solo career, he was a founding member of three bands: The Byrds, Crosby, Stills & Nash , and CPR...
   
   , Roger McGuinn
   Roger McGuinn
   James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...
   
   ) – 3:33
7. "Bumblebee" – 3:39
8. "Bourree" (Bach) – 1:26
9. "Bean Time" – 2:32
10. "Tiny Island" (Gaylor) – 3:46
11. "In Christ There Is No East Or West" (Traditional) – 2:12
12. "Last Steam Engine Train" (John Fahey
    John Fahey (musician)
    John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
    
    ) – 3:00
13. "From The Cradle To The Grave" (Kottke, Nagle) – 3:23
14. "Louise" (Paul Siebel
    Paul Siebel
    Paul Siebel is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, born on September 19, 1937 in Buffalo, NY. He is best known for other artist's cover versions of his songs, most notably "Louise"...
    
    ) – 4:02
15. "Easter" [Live] – 3:18
16. "Medley Crow River Waltz/Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring/Jack Fig" [Live] – 7:32
17. "Pamela Brown" (Tom T. Hall
    Tom T. Hall
    Thomas "Tom T." Hall is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has written 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the pop crossover hit "I Love", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100...
    
    ) – 4:03
18. "You Tell Me Why" (Elliott) – 3:58
19. "Born To Be With You" (Robertson) – 3:02

Disc two

1. "Mona Ray" – 3:40
2. "When Shrimps Learn To Whistle" – 3:28
3. "The Scarlatti Rip-off" – 3:32
4. "Open Country Joy (Constant Traveler)" (Leo Kottke, John McLaughlin
   John McLaughlin (musician)
   John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
   
   ) – 3:39
5. "Buckaroo" (Morris) – 2:03
6. "The White Ape" – 2:08
7. "Range" – 3:24
8. "Airproofing" – 2:16
9. "Up Tempo" – 1:40
10. "Endless Sleep" (Nick Lowe
    Nick Lowe
    Nicholas Drain "Nick" Lowe , is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer.A pivotal figure in UK pub rock, punk rock and new wave, Lowe has recorded a string of well-reviewed solo albums. Along with vocals, Lowe plays guitar, bass guitar, piano and harmonica...
    
    ) – 3:37
11. "Sonora’s Death Row" (Farrell) – 4:30
12. "Embryonic Journey" (Jorma Kaukonen
    Jorma Kaukonen
    Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
    
    ) – 3:15
13. "Learning The Game" (Buddy Holly
    Buddy Holly
    Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
    
    ) – 4:06
14. "The Train And The Gate" [Live] – 3:02
15. "Side One Suite:"
    1. "Some Birds" – 0:59
    2. "Sounds Like..." – 1:28
    3. "Slang" – 2:42
    4. "My Double" – 2:05
    5. "Three Walls And Bars" – 2:13
    6. "Reprise: Some Birds" – :59
16. "Sleep Walk" (Johnny Farina/Santo Farina/Ann Farina
    Santo & Johnny
    Santo & Johnny were an Italian-American rock and roll duo from Brooklyn, New York, comprising brothers Santo and Johnny Farina.They are best known for their instrumental "Sleep Walk", which became a regional hit and eventually reached the top of the Billboard pop chart when it was released...
    
    ) – 2:23
17. "Rings" (Harvey, Reeves)– 2:45
18. "Julie’s House" – 3:17

Personnel

• Leo Kottke - 6 & 12-string guitar, vocals
• David Kemper
  David Kemper
  David Kemper is a drummer. He was a long-time member of both the Jerry Garcia Band and Bob Dylan's band . He was with the Jerry Garcia Band for the last eleven years of Garcia's life...
  
   - drums
• David Miner – bass
• Albert Lee
  Albert Lee
  Albert William Lee, born 21 December 1943 in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked both in the studio and on tour with some of the most famous musicians which stretch through a very wide of genres...
  
   - guitar
• Emmylou Harris
  Emmylou Harris
  Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
  
   - background vocals
• Kenny Buttrey
  Kenny Buttrey
  Aaron Kenneth Buttrey was an American drummer and arranger. According to CMT, he was "one of the most influential session musicians in Nashville history"....
  
   – drums
• Paul Lagos - drums
• Michael Johnson
  Michael Johnson (singer)
  Michael Johnson , is an American pop, country and folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1978 hit song "Bluer Than Blue". To date, he has charted four hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and nine more on the Hot Country Songs charts, including two Number One country hits...
  
   - guitar
• Mike Leech – bass
• Roy Estrada
  Roy Estrada
  Roy Estrada is an American musician and backing vocalist, best known for his bass guitar work with Frank Zappa and for co-founding Little Feat.-Biography:With drummer Jimmy Carl Black and Ray Collins, Estrada was an original member of Frank Zappa's...
  
   - bass
• Bobby Ogdin - piano
• John Harris – piano
• Bill Berg
  Bill Berg (musician)
  Bill Berg is a noted drummer in jazz and fusion music, best known for his work with the group Flim & the BB's, as well as guitarist Wayne Johnson. He also served as the drummer for fellow Hibbing, Minnesota native Bob Dylan's notable record Blood on the Tracks.Berg has also recorded and worked...
  
   – drums
• Bill Peterson – bass
• Bill Barber
  Billy Barber (musician)
  Billy Barber is a keyboardist and composer. He is the son of pianist and William C. Barber, also known as Bill Barber Sr.He is most noted for the theme song for All My Children in the 1990s as well as keyboardist for the jazz group Flim & the BB's with Jimmy Johnson and Bill Berg...
  
  – piano, synthesizer

Production notes:

• Compilation Producers - James Austin and Rick Clark
• Liner notes - Mark Humphrey and Leo Kottke
• Remastering - Ron McMaster
• Design - Maria Villar

External links

• Leo Kottke's official site
• Unofficial Leo Kottke web site (fan site)