Rev. Gary Davis

In a 1981 interview by Jon Sievert, Bobby dispels the myth that he took lessons from Garcia:

Jon: I read somewhere that you once a guitar student of Garcia's back in the early days.  Is that true?

Bob: No. I hung around him and picked up a thing or two, but I never really took any formal lessons from anybody except Reverend Gary Davis back in 1971. I was a longtime fan of Davis' and always really liked his approach to guitar because he played the whole instrument and only used two fingers to pick. Being blind, he didn't know what you can't do. Notes and lines just seem to come at you from all different directions, and he seemed to have a way of tying them all together. He was just about to the end of his days when I met him and took a couple of lessons from him.

...

Who were some of your major musical influences?
 Bob: Well, I mentioned Gary Davis, but I haven't really emulated anybody's guitar style in particular...

[but he did emulate McCoy Tyner]

Bobby also learned Samson & Delilah from Rev. Gary Davis. A version from 12/16/78 with some funky Jerry (whole show here).

Rev. Gary Davis' Samson and Delilah. Rev. Gary Davis' Death Don't Have No Mercy.