Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Toulouse Engelhardt spent his childhood in Southern California and took up the guitar at age six. Essentially self-taught, he later credited just two formal lessons: at thirteen, Larry Carlton showed him how to play “Walk Don’t Run,” and on another occasion Wes Montgomery offered pointers outside the Lighthouse Café in Hermosa Beach, California, after an early-morning gig. John Fahey’s Takoma Records placed Engelhardt under contract, and the label issued his first album, Toullusions, through its Briar Records subsidiary in 1975. Weak distribution prevented the record from reaching a wide audience, prompting Engelhardt to step away from music for several years; he eventually reentered the field as a sideman alongside Adrian Belew, Jack Bruce, the Byrds, Ry Cooder, Dick Dale, and David Lindley. Sierra Records brought Toullusions back into print in 1994, adding newly recorded bonus tracks to the reissue. During the 2000s Engelhardt joined the Lost Grove roster, which released A Child’s Guide to Einstein (with Remi Kabaka) on May 18, 2004, Martian Lust on January 17, 2006, Lubbock Lightz (produced with the team TEA) in 2007, and Perpendicular Worlds on June 8, 2010.
