Maybe it's just the corners of the internet I observe, but it seems that blues guitar or older blues in general has been falling out of favor for years now, particularly among younger millennials and xennials or whatever we wind up calling them. I still myself dig SRV, Gary Moore and others, but I'm in the older millennial range and a guitarist who grew up on that stuff, so it's more a part of me. I don't know if it's part of the stigma as being too close to "dad rock" or something of that ilk. But guys like Albert King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, or even Howlin' Wolf never quite got their due in the first place, so I'd hate for that music to get buried even more. Or even somewhat "newer" artists like Jeff Healey, Robert Randolph, Aynsley Lister, Chris Duarte, or heck, even someone like Danny Gatton.
Speaking of Max, I was at the last show that Empire (formerly Jaxx) ever hosted in VA, which had Haken headlining, and Max's band at the time Next To None playing. Mike himself joined Haken for a tune near the end of the show. At one point Mike and Max walked right by me in a less crowded part of the venue. I should have said something, but I was a bit stunned.