Legendary is right. When I first taught myself to play guitar as a medical student in the mid-70s, I bought Happy Traum's book, "Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar." Here are his notes on Tom Paley:

"In the late '40's, when the urban folksong movement was just getting under way, a few young city people were deeply involved in studying the traditional instrumental styles of the country. Tom Paley became one of the best guitar and banjo pickers in the city, and was the inspiration of many many other aspiring folk musicians.

"Tom played and sang, took photographs, and taught college math throughout the '50's, until he, John Cohen, and Mike Seeger joined forces to form the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958. He is now [in 1966] somewhere in Scandinavia with Claudia, his wife."

Then I took a trip to London after my internship in 1978. I went to a pub whose name I don't recall, and after a couple of singers the MC announced, "Next, we have Tom Paley."   He was wonderful...and I was amazed to be seeing a man who had apparently dropped out and was supposed to be living "somewhere in Scandinavia"!

Aloha,
Mark