I saw John in small venues before he was famous and in huge arenas.He played a tiny club called The Drinking Gourd in Redondo Beach around 1967. I saw him at the Hollywood Bowl when he was famous. He basically was a folk musician who tapped a pop vein and rode it all long time. John underated as a guitarist and always did a few folk ballads in his concerts. He may have had drinking and drug problems, but he lived at a time when that was expected from performers. He wrestled with his demons and his relationaships like all of us do.
His environalmental snsitivity will be sadly missed. Right up to the end of his life he was woking to save wild places and endangered animals. He wanted to keep Big Oil out of the Alsakan Wildlife Reguge.
His felicity with words, rhythm, and melody have left us songs that if not exactly classics, will outlive most of today's pop songs by decades, simpley because they were so universal and simple at the same time. His stage persona turned off many auditors, but basically he was a good-hearted American farm boy with a musical gift. His detractors generally regard him as insipid and unengaged, but he was really totally committed to his both his music and his conservation.
All John wanted his whole life was a family, and when he couldn't have one naturally he adopted the American Public. Just when an icon becomes recognized, we realize that icons are truly irreplacable. What a loss!