Sound Check With Leo

Acoustic icon Leo Kottke offers insights as he finds his sound at Sweetwater Music Hall.

- JIMMY LESLIE

LEO KOTTKE IS one of the most road-savvy troubadours of all time, and Bob Weir's Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, California, is a top-shelf venue, so sound check for such a well-honed solo act should take about five minutes, right? Wrong. After I interviewed Kottke for an extensive Frets feature that ran in the December and Holiday 2020 issues, he graciously extended an invitation to drop in for his show on February 14. I happened to arrive as he was going through a bit of an ordeal to achieve sonic satisfaction.

GOING SINGLE ON VALENTINE'S DAY Kottke was sitting in a seat in the fourth row scrutinizing his tone coming over the main house speakers. Surprisingly, he was traveling with one instrument. Even more surprising, it was not his signature Taylor 12-string but rather a six-string Martin 00. The 77-year-old's brief explanation was simply that playing a smaller, lighter instrument was easier to manage, and that "I don't have any serious back problems yet, and I'd like to keep it that way."