Very interesting. Even if you weren't familiar with AJ I would have expected you had heard of Jim. He was pretty iconic back in the day even though he wasn't on the scene for very long. It was a pretty amazing night.
My musical knowledge is oddly patchy that way. Growing up, my mom exclusively listened to Willy Nelson, and my dad to the Beach Boys (only the early surfer rock stuff). So I grew up with the 80s music that was surrounding us and I branched out backwards from there as I explored. But without any kind of guide, my exploration isn't logical or smooth. The good point to this way is that I'm always discovering great new stuff that I somehow have overlooked until now.
That is a good way to look at it! We listened to a lot of 50's, 60's, and 70's music growing up, really along with the 80's those four decades are my sweet spot. That was the foundation anyway, then from there I just listened to whatever was on the radio at the time.