Peculiaroso is an album by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 guitarist Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke

Leo Kottke is an acoustic guitarist. He is widely known for his innovative fingerpicking style, which draws on influences from blues, jazz, and folk music, and his syncopated, polyphonic melodies...

, released in 1994.

History

Coming more than two years after the Great Big Boy

Great Big Boy

Great Big Boy is an album by American guitarist Leo Kottke, released in 1991.-History:Kottke's fifth album on the Private Music 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 of...

album, where all tracks included vocal parts, Peculiaroso returned to Kottke's usual mix of vocal and instrumental selections. The album included several notable cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s, including an instrumental take on the Sutherland Brothers

Sutherland Brothers

The Sutherland Brothers originally performed as a folk / rock duo in the field of British music in the early 1970s, and then from 1973 to 1978 joined with rock band Quiver to record and tour as Sutherland Brothers & Quiver...

' "Arms of Mary" and a version of Randall Hylton's "Room at the Top of the Stairs" which received some airplay on Adult Alternative radio.

The album was produced by singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriter

Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

, who also provided backing vocals on several tracks. Kottke credited Jones with capturing a more spontaneous and relaxed feel on the recording than was typical of his own attempts.

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

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Jeff Crooke wrote of the album "... this release, well produced by Rickie Lee Jones, is at turns humorous, haunting, and highly enjoyable."

Track listing

All songs by Leo Kottke except as noted

1. "Peg Leg" – 3:27
2. "Poor Boy" (Bukka White
   Bukka White
   Booker T. Washington White , better known as Bukka White, was an American Delta blues guitarist and singer. "Bukka" was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White's given name Booker, by his second record label .-Biography:Born between Aberdeen and Houston, Mississippi, White was the...
   
   , John Fahey
   John Fahey (musician)
   John Fahey was an American fingerstyle guitarist and composer who pioneered the steel-string acoustic guitar as a solo instrument. His style has been greatly influential and has been described as the foundation of American Primitivism, a term borrowed from painting and referring mainly to the...
   
   ) – 3:07
3. "Parade" – 2:49
4. "Wonderland by Night" (Klaus Gunter-Newman, Lincoln Chase) – 3:30
5. "World Made to Order" – 3:47
6. "Room Service (At the Tahiti Hotel)" – 2:52
7. "Turning into Randolph Scott (Humid Child)" – 3:42
8. "Porky and Pale" – 2:26
9. "Arms of Mary" (Ian Sutherland) – 3:06
10. "The Room at the Top of the Stairs" (Randall Hylton) – 2:41
11. "Big Situation" – 3:15
12. "Twilight Time" (Buck Ram
    Buck Ram
    Buck Ram was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger.-Biography:...
    
    , Morty Nevins, Al Nevins) – 1:50

Personnel

• Leo Kottke - guitar, vocals
• Dean Parks
  Dean Parks
  Dean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Ft. Worth, TX.-Albums:Dean was member of The North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. Dean is best-known through his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan...
  
   - electric guitar
• Van Dyke Parks
  Van Dyke Parks
  Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....
  
   - accordion
• John Leftwich - bass
• Bill Berg
  Bill Berg (musician)
  Bill Berg is a noted drummer in jazz and fusion music, best known for his work with the group Flim & the BB's, as well as guitarist Wayne Johnson. He also served as the drummer for fellow Hibbing, Minnesota native Bob Dylan's notable record Blood on the Tracks.Berg has also recorded and worked...
  
   - drums
• Brad Dutz - percussion
• Rickie Lee Jones
  Rickie Lee Jones
  Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...
  
   - vocals
• Syd Straw
  Syd Straw
  Syd Straw is an American rock singer and songwriter. The daughter of actor Jack Straw , she began her career singing backup for Pat Benatar, then took her distinct voice to the indie/alternative scene and joined the Golden Palominos...
  
  - vocals
• Teresa Tudbury - vocals

Production notes:

• Produced by Rickie Lee Jones
• Recorded and Mixed: Paul duGre
• Assistant engineers: Dan Bosworth, Mark Duilbeault, Noel Hazen & Marnie Riley
• Mastered by Joe Gastwirt

External links

• Leo Kottke official site
• Unofficial Leo Kottke web site (fan site)