Try And Stop Me is a 2004 album by 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...

. It contains some of Kottke's first forays into improvisation. All songs are unaccompanied guitar solos with the exception of "Banks of Marble" in which Kottke is supported by the band Los Lobos

Los Lobos

Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

.

Kottke plays a new arrangement of Carla Bley's "Jesus Maria" here, his third recorded version of the song. Besides the version on That's What, he contributed another recording of the song to a promotional album titled Sounds of Wood and Steel (1997) released by Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars

Taylor Guitars is an El Cajon, California‐based luthier, specializing in acoustic guitars, as well as semi-hollow and solidbody electric guitars. It was established in 1974 by Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug.- History :...

 and Windham Hill.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Hal Horowitz wrote of the album "... music that falls between folk, world, jazz, gospel, and the dreaded new age that is indelibly tied to Kottke's recognizable percussive style. There are few deviations from his established direction and many of these tracks could have been included on any of his previous two-dozen or so discs. But that doesn't lessen the impact of experiencing one of the most respected and intense acoustic guitarists in the history of the instrument ply his craft... Established fans won't find many revelations here, but they will still relish hearing fresh Kottke music, if only because he's obviously still playing at the top of his game 35 years into his idiosyncratic career." Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

gave the album 3 of 5 stars.

Track listing

All songs by Leo Kottke except as noted.

1. "Monopoly" – 5:34
2. "Stolen" – 2:14
3. "Mockingbird Hill
   Mockin' Bird Hill
   Mockin' Bird Hill is a 3/4 song was written by Vaughn Horton and published in 1951. It was popularized by Patti Page and by Les Paul and Mary Ford in 1951, and for both of them following on to their big hit of "The Tennessee Waltz" the previous year...
   
   " (Horton Vaughn) – 1:52
4. "Then" – 5:04
5. "Mora Roa" – 6:15
6. "Axolotl" – 3:55
7. "The Bristol Sloth" – 3:55
8. "Unbar" – 4:30
9. "Jesus Maria" (Carla Bley
   Carla Bley
   Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
   
   ) – 3:13
10. "Gewerbegebiet" – 5:15
11. "Banks of Marble" (Les Rice) – 3:28

Personnel

• Leo Kottke - 6 & 12-string guitar, vocals
• Los Lobos
  Los Lobos
  Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
  
   appears on "Banks of Marble"

Production notes:

• Produced by Leo Kottke and Steve Berlin
  Steve Berlin
  Steve Berlin 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 Flesh Eaters...
  
  
• Engineered by Sam Hudson, Paul duGre ("Banks of Marble")
• Mastered by Paul duGre and Brad Palm