The album showcases Kottke's early, hard-driving polyphonic finger-picking style (which eventually led to his developing tendinitis and having to change his playing approach).

Kottke doesn't even pause when he audibly smacks the slide on the guitar neck on "The Sailor's Grave on the Prairie."

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Richie Unterberger wrote of the album "Kottke's brand of virtuosity, however, is more soothing and easy on the ear than Fahey's.

It's far from sappy, though, the rich and resonant picking intimating some underlying restlessness, like peaceful open fields after a storm.

He's an acoustic guitarist from Minneapolis whose music can invoke your most subliminal reflections or transmit you to the highest reaches of joy... anything in addition to his guitar would be superfluous.