Leo was the first of the fingerstyle guitarists I heard do just instrumental stuff. I saw him play quite a few times, met him, got to know him a little back in the 70s, brefore he got married and straightened out. Some funny stories from that time. His early stuff was really innovative for the time, back when he was on Rounder. Never cared much for his contemporary on the label, John Fahey. Another guy back then was Dave Evans - a Brit who could flat out play. Made a record called Sad Pig Dance. Tune on there called "Knuckles and Buster" that was hard as hell to play. A few other guys followed - Duck Baker, Stefan Grossman, etc. But Kottke ruled back then. Until Micheal Hedges blew the fingerstyle guitar scene open. His album Aerial Boundaries remains one of the great solo guitar albums of all time, right up there with Kottke's My Feet Are Smiling. Hedges went wasted and tried to sing, then sadly crashed out of our universe, but a gazillion guys followed. Egberto Gismonti was the modern alternative. I saw him live his first trip to the U.S., and he blew me away. I ran out and bought the only album I could find. Turned out he had played the entire first album on stage with Nana Vasconcelos, just the two of them - Danca das Cabecas. Amazing. And then for the next level, it was the Assad brothers, playing a mix of jazz, classical and South American music. They still rule, as far as I'm concerned. Saw them in NY with Nadja Salerno Sonenberg. But nothing is better than the two of them playing together. Unbelievable.
But blues .... yeah. I like some blues too. Just about anything out of the old south. Especially slide guitar stuff. Do you play, Leo?