With the folk revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s many younger players discovered the styles of the early Blues artists and worked to master them. Some of the most successful were Dave Van Ronk, Danny Kalb, Rory Block, Steve Mann, Paul Geremia, Roy Book Binder, Marc Silber, John Hammond, Stefan Grossman, Eric von Schmidt and local Bay Area Blues musician Tom Hobson. Some of the above mentioned players are still performing, and many younger players have continued the tradition.

Others influenced by the same music had the talent, luck and/or ambition to have success in mainstream popular music. A few of the most obvious examples are Ry Cooder, Taj Mahal and Jorma Kaukonen. Jerry Garcia used a flatpick for his work with The Grateful Dead but he played some beautiful Mississippi John Hurt inspired finger style arrangements on his duet albums with mandolin virtuoso David Grissman. Although known mostly for his screaming electric licks, Michael Bloomfield was also an accomplished blues finger stylist. Bob Dylan has obviously been inspired by early blues players. He relates a fascinating story about Robert Johnson's influence on his early song writing in Chronicles.

John Fahey used the techniques of the early Blues players (mixed with other influences) to create a solo guitar style. Miller was among the first guitarists to embrace this emerging genre.