I guess it is not surprising that many of his contemporaries did not recognise his stature. By all accounts, after his initial recordings, he lived quietly and modestly as a sharecropper and only thought of music as his hobby. (He was not the only great American musician of whom that was true). He was bemused by the attention he received in the final years of his life - and very probably did not realise just what an influence he would have on many of the next generation. I wish I could have met him or seen him play, but I was only thirteen years old when he died in November 1968 (I think). I hope he's smiling at us now. I certainly always smile when I hear that lovely picking and wry humour.