Heard on the radio, this morning, tomorrow is his 78th birthday. Here's a little bit he wrote about earlier birthdays and his first instrument:

My very first instrument was a little harmonica," he recalls. "It was like the one I was playing Milk Cow Blues on out there (at the concert that evening) --- the same type. I got one every Christmas as far back as I can remember. And sometimes if I was a good boy, I got one for my birthday, because I usually wore them out pretty quick as a kid or lost them somewhere! "The first stringed instrument I had was a little homemade banjo that Dad made for me when I was 11. Then my first guitar came along when I was about 13. Though it was my second (stringed instrument), it was my first love as an instrument."