Hoot, I'm not doubting Doc's relationship with RR - or casting doubts on RR himself. My interest was in the presentation of Doc to the public as described in the book, and some of the correspondence between Doc and RR is quoted in Gustavson's book. Hence my riff on the 'authenticity' question.

I'm no folklorist - I'm only really interested in the music as I hear it - but I was intrigued by the view in the book about the route that Doc took to wider recognition.

It seems very difficult to raise this as a topic without people bristling slightly at intended slurs - and I must repeat that there are no slurs intended here, just curiosity.