Mike Gordon and Leo Kottke hit A Late Show with Stephen Colbert to show off some of their new acoustic duo material for the late-night show’s #PlayAtHome series with help from Gordon’s Phish bandmate, Jon Fishman. The duo-turned-trio dug into “The Only One”, the final song on Kottke & Gordon’s recently released album, Noon, which features Fishman on five tracks. The album marked the first new collaboration between the Phish bassist and the pioneering acoustic guitarist since 2005’s Sixty Six Steps.
“Leo was really intrigued to get us together,” Gordon said of bringing Fishman into the mix during the virtual Noon album release party back in August. “We have 2,000 concerts, etc., of telepathy. Fish is really a unique drummer. He has all these grooves that he’s working on constantly, that have all these patterns from all these different genres. I just said, ‘We want you to do your thing.’”
“The vibe is very different from the other two albums,” continued Gordon. “I was hearing a darkness in the material Leo was bringing, and some of the material that I wanted to bring, that I thought just reflected going through 10 more years of life. There are overdubs, but it’s still more like you’re in a cafe or a living room with these two guys. And even when we had drums, we wanted to maintain that feeling.”
“I just knew there was a shape and that we were following it,” noted Kottke. “We were trying to get to that place that we get to in a little room, just chasing each other. We’ve found that at soundchecks, and at my place, or his place, or some motel room. We wanted to get that late night feel. It’s a more intimate record than the others are, I think there are depths to it.”
Filmed in 4K in the familiar split-screen style, the video hears Fishman utilizing a soft brush touch on drums and providing backing harmony with Gordon underneath Kottke’s lead vocals and the tune’s complex guitar/bass interplay. Watch Leo Kottke, Mike Gordon, and Jon Fishman link up for a performance on the Colbert #PlayFromHome series below:
Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon ft. Jon Fishman – A Late Show with Stephen Colbert #PlayAtHome – “The Only One”
[Video: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert]
This Saturday, October 3rd, Jon Fishman will join 50+ other artists and speakers for Democracy Comes Alive, a virtual music festival to get out the vote presented by Live For Live Music in partnership with HeadCount.
To secure your ticket to the virtual festival on Saturday, check your voter registration status or donate to HeadCount via DemocracyComesAlive.com.
