Television Review:  Leo Kottke -- Home and Away

Supplier:  KTCA-TV, St. Paul-Minneapolis
60 minutes, Wednesday (June 7), 9 PM, PBS

      Guitarist Leo Kottke, winner of seven Grammy Awards, comes across as a talented artist and likeable guy in this 1-hour PBS performance special, which showcases his music-making.

      The show focuses on a Kottke concert at the Bathurst St. Theatre, Toronto.  Intercut among the musical numbers are shots of Kottke on tour in Nashville, at home in Minneapolis and improvising backstage with fellow guitar greats Chet Atkins and Doc Watson.

      Kottke has a folksy, self-deprecating sense of humor that sets well with the casual observer as well as with his fans.  "Talking and playing at the same time is the pinnacle of musicianship," he says at one point in a sly dig at himself.

      His ingratiating manner doesn't detract from his first-rate instrumentals.  Playing 6- and 12-string guitars, he scores impressively with a variety of styles, including jazz, classical and folk.

      Program was produced by St. Paul-Minneapolis pubcaster KTCA-TV.  Production credits are okay aside from some arty, off-focus camerawork on the concert stage.  -- Rees