I sat in the stands at Winfield in '71-72 and watched Norman Blake, Doc Watson, Dan Crary and Tony Rice thru binoculars....amazing difference in what they did, even to a non guitar player. Doc's fingers moving just enough to clear the strings...Dan's making big bouncy movements...Tony's looking 'different', though I am not aware enough to tell you why.....but Norman seemed to be just flowing...and the most amazing thing was, he was looking at the audience and carrying on some sort of interaction-grinning and mouthing remarks with some folks right in front of the stage WHILE he did all those tricks!...It was like the pickin' was on autopilot, while the other guys were WORKING to get it right, even Doc.

In the years since, I have come to the point where I can identify a Blake number on the radio within a few measures. Whatever he does, it is unique!