''Great Big Boy'' is an album by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

guitarist

Leo Kottke Leo Kottke (born September 11, 1945) is an American acoustic guitarist. He is known for a fingerpicking style that draws on blues, jazz, and folk music, and for syncopated, polyphonic melodies. He has overcome a series of personal obstacles, i ...

, released in 1991.

History

Kottke's fifth album on the

Private Music Private Music was an American independent record label founded in 1984 by musician Peter Baumann as a "home for instrumental music". Baumann signed Ravi Shankar, Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Andy Summers, Patrick O'Hearn, Leo Kottke, and his for ...

label, ''Great Big Boy'' is unique in the later Kottke canon in that every song includes a vocal part. The disc consists of nine Kottke originals and a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

's "

I Still Miss Someone "I Still Miss Someone" is a song co-written by Johnny Cash and his nephew Roy Cash, Jr. and originally recorded by American country music singer Johnny Cash. He first recorded it in 1958 as the B-side to "Don't Take Your Guns to Town". History C ...

". Complementing the often-oblique song lyrics is a strange short story included in the liner notes.

Margo Timmins Margo Timmins (born January 27, 1961) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist of the alternative country and folk rock band Cowboy Junkies. Her brothers Michael Timmins and Peter Timmins are the band's lead guitarist and dru ...

' vocals were recorded by Peter Moore at MDI Productions, Toronto, Canada. Though Kottke would not release another studio album until 1994, he was a frequent guest on various projects. He guested on ''Joshua Judges Ruth'' (1992) and ''I Love Everybody'' (1994) for

Lyle Lovett Lyle Pearce Lovett (born November 1, 1957) Lyle Lovett Pageat Allmusic – Lovett's Genre and Styles. Retrieved February 2, 2007 is an American country singer and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded 14 albums and released 25 singles to dat ...

, ''Troubadour'' (1992) by Larry Long, ''Other Voices, Other Rooms'' by

Nanci Griffith Nanci Caroline Griffith (July 6, 1953 – August 13, 2021) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. She often appeared on the PBS music program ''Austin City Limits'', starting in 1985 during season 10. In 1990, Griffith appeared on th ...

, ''Traffic From Paradise'' by

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

(both 1993) and ''Out of the Valley'' (1994) by

John Gorka John Gorka (born July 27, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. In 1991, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine called him "the preeminent male singer-songwriter of what has been dubbed the New Folk Movement." Personal life Gorka was raised in the Colon ...

. ''Great Big Boy'' was re-released on CD as a "twofer" with ''Peculiaroso'' by Acadia (8182) on Oct 29, 2007.

Reception

Writing for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, music critic Chip Renner wrote of the album "Kottke sings on this record to good effect."

Track listing

All songs by Leo Kottke except as noted. # "Running Up the Stairs" – 3:16 # "The Other Day (near Santa Cruz)" – 2:55 # "Great Big Boy" – 3:40 # "Driver" – 3:34 # "Pepe Hush" – 3:43 # "Big Mob on the Hill" – 2:42 # "Ice Cream" – 4:36 # "Nothin' Works" – 2:54 # "Summer's Growing Old" – 2:53 # "I Still Miss Someone" (

, Roy Cash, Jr.) – 3:28

Personnel

- guitar, vocals *

- backing vocals on 5 *

- backing vocals on 6, 7, 8 *John Leftwich - bass 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10 * Alejandro "Alex" Acuña - drums, percussion on 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 *Robert Martin - keyboards on 1, 2, 4-8, 10; bass on 2, 5, 7, background vocals on 6 *Victor Bisetti - drums & percussion on 3 & 10 *Steve Kujala - flute on 3

Production notes

*Produced by

Steve Berlin Steven M. Berlin (born September 14, 1955, in Philadelphia) is an American saxophonist, keyboardist and record producer, best known as a member of the rock group Los Lobos and, before that, Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, the Blasters, and the Fl ...

*Recording Engineer: Paul duGre *Other engineers: Bob Schaper, Scott Stillman, Peter Moore *Mastered by

Doug Sax Doug Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six Pink Floyd's albums, including '' The Wall''; Ray Charles' multiple ...

& Alan Yoshida

References

External links

Leo Kottke official site

Unofficial Leo Kottke web site (fan site)
{{Authority control 1991 albums Leo Kottke albums Private Music albums