| That's What | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Leo Kottke |
| Cover: | That's_What.jpg |
| Released: | 1990 |
| Recorded: | Mike Jones Film Corp., Minneapolis, MN |
| Genre: | Folk, jazz |
| Length: | 37:34 |
| Label: | Private Music (2068-2-P) |
| Producer: | Willard O. Peterson, Leo Kottke |
| Prev Title: | My Father's Face |
| Prev Year: | 1989 |
| Next Title: | Great Big Boy |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
That's What is an album by the American steel-string guitar artist Leo Kottke.[1] It is distinctive in its jazzy nature and "talking" songs ("Buzzby" and "Husbandry"). It reached No. 24 on Billboards Top New Age Albums charts, Kottke's highest charting position on Billboard.
The song "Little Snoozer" is played on a Charvel demo model of a Danelectro 6-string bass guitar tuned one octave lower than a standard 6-string guitar. Kottke used trombones on many of the songs.[2]
Kottke has re-recorded at least two more versions of "Jesus Maria".
The Orlando Sentinel wrote that "Kottke's eccentric poetics and monotone Lou Reed-style of delivery make 'Buzzby' and 'Husbandry' the strangest moments on That's What."[3] The Chicago Tribune deemed the album "a rumbling, comic, folksy sound, yet one that remains strangely comfortable and comforting."[4]
AllMusic stated: "Leo Kottke has always been a highly idiosyncratic guitar player whose music is infused with his wry sense of humor. That's What is no exception, with Kottke's guitar work drawing from jazzy, blues and folk sources... Tying it all together is Kottke's fine guitar playing, as nimble and as quirky as ever."
All songs by Leo Kottke except as noted.