Lewis and Clark were pioneers, so was Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo.
They walked the barren deserts and sailed the high seas looking for new unique unforeseen land and people. They were seekers who took that lonely road - not seeking fame or fortune but to calm the inferno inside them that pushes any iconoclast to the boundaries of the mortal.
In music there are pioneers as well- Bill Monroe and John Lee Hooker, Allah Raka and Dizzy Gillespie, Reverend Gary Davis Jimi Hendrix and my guest.
A Jewish cat from Brooklyn who looked to the Medicine shows and traveling circus' to find the authentic people he was searching for.
He rambled back to NY where he befriended Woody Guthrie and became embedded in the rich folk/poet scene that was burgeoning at that time. His impact has been immense yet he like Columbus took the high lonesome road of Appalachia which led to Nashville and then Mill Valley.
He met Pig Hargus Robbins and Tut Taylor and Johnny Cash along the way.