In his youth he will have had guitar heroes presumably, before he found his own style, ie well pre 1960. I have no ideas who they might have been, but judging by his style I would guess that in his time he must have listened to Eddie Lang, Lonnie Johnson and Chet Atkins (and/or Merle Travis). And of course Lonnie Donegan. Some or any of those names might appear?...though of course not everybody loves their heroes 50 years later