To Muddy Waters, Wilkins was the first guitarist from the Delta who played single-string guitar riffs without a slide. Later on, Waters stated, "The man is great, the man is stone great. For blues, like I say, he's the best."[1][6]
Charley Booker's final recording was as a guest with Wilkins at a 1973 blues festival at Notre Dame, in South Bend, Indiana.[8] The same year, Mimosa Records released a single of Wilkins's debut vocal performance. Adamo Records later issued a live album of some of his concert performances.[6]
His working relationship and friendship with Houston Stackhouse endured over the years, with Stackhouse at one time living in the same premises as Wilkins and his wife. Wilkins and Stackhouse played at various blues music festivals and were part of the traveling Memphis Blues Caravan.[9] After undergoing a colostomy in the late 1970s, Wilkins continued to perform.[1]
Wilkins is buried in the Galilee Memorial Gardens, near Memphis.[6]
Confusion over dates
There is some confusion over Wilkins's date of birth and date of death; various sources quote 1921, 1922 or 1923 as the year of his birth, and some cite 1981 for his death. AllMusic erroneously stated that "his final performances were an East Coast tour in 1981 and that he died in the week following these engagements".[1]
^Oliver, Paul (1969). The Story of the Blues (2nd ed.). Boston: Northeastern University Press. p. 171. ISBN978-0712674928.
^O'Neal, Jim (2003). "Greenville, Mississippi". CD booklet with The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions, Vol. 1: Arkansas & Mississippi 1951–1952. London: Ace Records. pp. 11–12.