Leo Kottke returns to Tower Theatre

Published 12:00 am Thursday, October 24, 2019

In the five decades since Leo Kottke released his 1969 debut album, “6- and 12-String Guitar,” the virtuosic acoustic guitarist has changed playing styles (from aggressive, syncopated fingerpicking to a more jazz- and classical-influenced sound, due to a bout with tendinitis in the ’80s), tunings and record labels while remaining a favorite of players and music fans alike.

He’s slowed down in recent years, releasing his last album, “Sixty Six Steps” — a second collaboration with Phish’s Mike Gordon — in 2005. “I’m always writing but recording is not my favorite way to spend time. I’m inching up on it though,” he told GO! Magazine in 2016, teasing a third collaboration with Gordon ahead of his last performance at the Tower Theatre. While that hasn’t come to be (yet), Kottke is still challenging audiences onstage, and will return to the Tower on Friday.

Leo Kottke: 8 p.m. Friday; $39.50, $45 or $50.50 plus theater preservation fee; Tower Theatre, 835 NW Wall St., Bend; towertheatre.org or 541-317-0700.