Lots of good points being made, but some of the complimentary things said sound a shade left handed.

I've been listening to the people like Jean Ritchie and the Carter Family for about as long as I have been making my own music Oddly enough, the longer I play and the longer I listen, the better they get. How do they do it?

The first time I heard the Carter Family it was "love at first listen" but,to be honest, I too thought, "Nobody in that band is really that good a picker" WRONG!! of course. They're incredible, but their musicianship is at a level that the listener has to bring a lot to the table musically to be able to recognize it. It has taken me a few years to reach the point in my own musical development to be able to recognize such greatness.

Perhaps it is a good thing that as a musical newbie I didn't realize just how good by musical heroes were. I might have given up in despair and burned my guitar.