Although Kottke has included vocals in other albums, this album is all instrumental — the liner notes contained Kottke's famous apology that his voice "sounds like geese farts on a muggy day."

All the tracks were written by Kottke except Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Kottke's arrangement of the familiar Bach piece.

Recorded in just three and one-half hours, the release of this truly iconic album virtually launched Leo Kottke out beyond the St. Paul-Minneapolis confines where he had been ensconced as a local phenom. By jumping on board John Fahey's burgeoning Takoma label, Kottke's guitar wizardry (especially finger-picking a 12-string, usually reserved as rhythm accompaniment) gave other guitarists far and wide, second thoughts. Throw in some sassy slide work on both 6 & 12 and you'll know why this particular record is commonly referred to as an Intro to Guitar 101. With twelve original compositions plus a few by some guy named J.S. Bach, Kottke's blues, folk, country and classical channelings dictate both his playful and reflective approach on each. Highlights include blazing picking techniques on Broken Bicycle and Vaseline Machine Gun with some muscular bottleneck slide work on The Sailor's Grave On The Prairie.

Track listing
1. Driving of the Year Nail, The
2. Last of the Arkansas Greyhounds, The
3. Ojo
4. Crow River Waltz
5. Sailor's Grave on the Prairie, The
6. Vaseline Machine Gun
7. Jack Fig
8. Watermelon
9. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
10. Fisherman, The
11. Tennessee Toad, The
12. Busted Bicycle
13. Brain of the Purple Mountain, The
14. Coolidge Rising

Album notes
Solo performer: Leo Kottke (acoustic 6 & 12-string guitars).
Recorded in 1969.
With the 1969 release of 6-AND 12 STRING GUITAR, Leo Kottke established his pre-eminence as a guitar virtuoso and composer of quirky, pop-inflected pieces. Harmonically adventurous and technically dazzling, this album showcases Kottke's penchant for infusing traditional elements of folk guitar with more modern, even impressionistic harmony and tonality. Kottke inspired a revolution in acoustic guitar playing, and this record provided the opening volley.

"The Driving of the Year Nail" starts things off with a relentless fingerpicked chug, featuring splashes of open harmonics executed with the delicacy of a ballerina. Kottke proceeds to combine the familiar with the strange--each of these brief pieces (around three minutes and under) has the effect of being simultaneously charming, and a little twisted. For example, "Vaseline Machine Gun" starts with "Taps" played with a bottleneck slide, then morphs into a thumb-and-slide frenzy. Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" is the exception, given a straight and loving reading on six-string guitar. This is pure steel-string joy, with liberal doses of irony and ecstasy.

Editorial reviews
...any hardships you must endure to obtain a copy are well worth the pure enjoyment this album provides...
Rolling Stone (10/29/1970)

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