"[Wolf's] stage presence was absolutely feral, exaggerated by his physical size—he stood 6' 3" tall, weighed 275 lbs late in life, and wore size 16 shoes. John Shines, who also traveled with Robert Johnson, said, “I was afraid of the Wolf, like you would be of some wild animal....It was the SOUND he was giving off!”
When his father bought him his first guitar in January 1928, he convinced Charley Patton to give him guitar lessons. He later took impromptu harmonica lessons from Sonny Boy Williamson II (Rice Miller), who was romancing his step-sister, Mary. He learned to sing by listening to records by his idols “Blind” Lemon Jefferson, Tommy Johnson, the Mississippi Sheiks, Jimmie “the Singing Brakeman” Rodgers, Leroy Carr, Lonnie Johnson, Tampa Red, and Blind Blake...when he wasn’t working on his father’s farm, he traveled the Delta with other musicians such as Sonnyboy, Robert Johnson, Patton, Son House, and Willie Brown.
Wolf’s collaborator on many of his greatest songs was guitar wizard Hubert Sumlin, who continues to play today. Hubert plays electric guitar with his bare fingers—an oddity for a Chicago bluesman—and his eccentric, slashing style made him a favorite of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Peter Green, and many other guitarists from the 1960s onward.
https://www.howlinwolf.com/articles/bio_3.htm
Here's a classic tune done by Wolf, one he learned as a child listenin to the good ole Mississippi Sheiks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBYZkBLVFPQ&feature=related
