After being discharged from the Naval Reserve because of his partial loss of hearing, Kottke attended St. Cloud State College (now St. Cloud State University), in Minnesota, but left before completing his studies, choosing instead to hitchhike around the country, busking for a living, before finally settling in the Twin Cities. He arrived at the Scholar Coffeehouse in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis in the autumn of 1966 and soon was a regular performer. There, he recorded his debut album, "12-String Blues", which was released on the independent Oblivion record label in 1969. He recorded "6- and 12-String Guitar" (also known as the "Armadillo album", after the animal pictured on its cover) for John Fahey's Takoma Records later the same year. It remains one of the works most closely associated with Kottke and has been re-released many times on various record labels. Fahey's agent Denny Bruce signed Kottke to Capitol Records, and in 1971 Capitol released Kottke's first major label record, "Mudlark".