I was at a fundraiser jam yesterday, just noodling around with boxes before any dancers got there, and started playing Cherokee Waltz.
Billy Wilson said they he really heard Danny Poullard's influence in my playing. That was quite a compliment.....except.....I never learned from Danny. Not even sure I learned that song from someone who did learn from Danny. I think I learned parts of it from Mark Marcin, long ago, and then I extrapolated what I didn't know.
Anyway, it was an odd feeling.
Danny's death, however, was a huge contributing factor to me getting off my butt and learning the instrument, i.e. that I/we had lost a great resource, and that I couldn't take things for granted anymore.