Erik Darling has been a name on folk music albums as long as I have known about folk music. I never met him, heard him live or thought of him as a solo performer, yet he was as much a part of the fabric of what I listened to as anyone.

I guess I first became aware of his talent on the (in)famous "Dalliance" series with Ed McCurdy, where that happy, tinkling banjo provided just the right touch to those bawdy songs.

I was just a kid in Kansas and met very few in that era. I envy those of you who knew him.