St. Cecilia Music Center (SCMC) brings back amazing acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke to the Royce Auditorium Stage on Tuesday, September 23 at 7:30 p.m. 

Leo Kottke is known for his fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music. In concert he intersperses humorous monologues with his vocal and instrumental performance. Throughout his career he has delighted his international audiences with his deferential down home stage presence and masterful guitar picking on 6-string and 12-string guitars. His newest album released this year called Noon features Kottke with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, their first new album together in 15 years. 

Executive & Artistic Director of SCMC Cathy Holbrook says, “We have loved presenting guitarist Leo Kottke at St. Cecilia Music Center in the past and are really looking forward to his upcoming concert here on September 23rd.  He always brings our audience to their feet with his fabulous finger picking magic, and his whimsical stories are priceless!”

 

Tickets for Leo Kottke are $60, $45 and $30, available online at www.scmcgr.org or by calling 616-459-2224. Contact the Box Office Manager at tickets@scmcgr.org or 616-459-2224 x201 with questions. 

 

Upcoming Acoustic Café Folk Series Concerts 

 

  • Acoustic Café Folk Series Concerts for September feature The Milk Carton Kids on September 9 to open St. Cecilia Music Center’s 2025/2026 Season. 
  • The amazing legendary acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke will perform on September 23.
  • Two-time Grammy Nominated singer songwriter and bluegrass artist Sierra Hull takes the stage on September 25.
  • The acclaimed Grammy Award-winning mandolinist, singer, songwriter, and composer Chris Thile will light up the stage on October 23. (SOLD OUT)
  • Josh Ritter, renowned singer, songwriter and musician, will bring his original folk, rock, country sound with the Royal City Band on November 2 with his exciting new album. 
  •  Joy Oladokun, musical trailblazer, singer, songwriter and producer will perform on November 18. 
  • Grammy-nominated Yonder Mountain String Band, a driving force in roots music, will bring the energy on December 4.  
  • Master Bluegrass/Newgrass Artist and Grammy Award winner Sam Bush will rock the stage on March 26, 2026.

 

 

Additional Acoustic Café Folk Series concerts for spring 2026 will be announced throughout the new season.

 

Leo Kottke’s Bio:

Acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke was born in Athens, Georgia but left town after a year and a half. Raised in 12 different states, he absorbed a variety of musical influences as a child, flirting with both violin and trombone before settling on guitar at age 11. 

 

Kottke attended college at the University of Missouri but dropped out after a year to hitchhike across the country to South Carolina, then to New London and into the Navy with his 12-string in hand. “The trip was not something I enjoyed,” he said, “I was broke and met too many interesting people.”

 

After the Army in 1964 he settled in the Twin Cities and became a fixture at Minneapolis’ Scholar Coffeehouse, which had been home to Bob Dylan and John Koerner. There he issued his debut LP “Twelve String Blues” in 1968, recorded on a Viking quarter-inch tape recorder, for the Scholar’s tiny Oblivion label. After sending tapes to guitarist John Fahey, Kottke was signed to Fahey’s Takoma label.  Under the Takoma label, he issued his 1969 “6- and 12-String Guitar” what has come to be called the Armadillo record due to the album’s distinctive cover that features an illustration of an armadillo. Soon after this release, Fahey and his manager Denny Bruce secured a production deal for Kottke with Capitol Records. 

 

Kottke’s 1971 Capitol Records debut “Mudlark” positioned him as a singer/songwriter, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer. Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, with records like his 1972 “Greenhouse” and 1973 live album “My Feet Are Smiling” and “Ice Water” that found him branching out with guest musicians and honing his guitar technique. With 1975 “Chewing Pine”, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 30 for the second time, and 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 years later in 2002. Kottke and Gordon followed with a recording in the Bahamas called “Sixty Six Steps” produced by Leo’s old friend and Prince producer David Z.  

 

Kottke’s newest release this year (2025) entitled “Noon” is also with Phish bassist Mike Gordon. Intricate, warmly askew, and indelibly dexterous, “Noon” showcases 11 new tracks that were recorded in New Orleans and Vermont with music exchanged between the two artists by file, tape-sealed boombox, sheet music, and face-to-face. 

 

Working with longtime Gordon collaborator, producer/engineer Jared Slomoff, Kottke and Gordon have crafted a singular collection of improvisational mood music, including a stripped-back version of Gordon’s classic “Peel” and Kottke’s stark rethinking of the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High.” “Noon” also includes a bopping cover of Prince’s “Alphabet St.” featuring Phish drummer Jon Fishman, who also joins Kottke and Gordon on four additional tracks. The LP also includes ambient appearances by pedal steel player Brett Lanier (The Barr Brothers) and cellist Zoë Keating (Imogen Heap, Amanda Palmer, Tears For Fears).

 

Kottke has been awarded two Grammy Nominations; a Doctorate in Music Performance by the Peck School of Music at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Certificate of Significant Achievement in “Not Playing the Trombone” from the University of Texas at Brownsville with Texas Southmost College. 

 

2025 – 2026 Season Individual Tickets for all concerts and Series Subscription Tickets for the Spectacular Jazz Series and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Series are available for purchase at www.scmcgr.orgor by calling 616-459-2224. Contact the Box Office Manager at tickets@scmcgr.org or 616-459-2224 x201 with questions.   

 

Single tickets include a $5.00 per ticket fee.

 

Acoustic Café Folk Series Tickets including ticket fees

 

Milk Carton Kids

Tuesday, September 9, 2025, 7:30 p.m.

A section $55

B section $40

C section $25

 

Leo Kottke

Tuesday, September 23, 2025, 7:30 p.m.

A section $60

B section $45

C section $30

 

Sierra Hull

Thursday, September 25, 2025, 7:30 p.m.

A section $60

B section $45

C section $30