No doubt Joe Humphries was ahead of his time, as was George Harvey. Even Aaron the naysayer was impressed when he watched Joe fish in his nymphing DVD.

There are many similiarities between the way Joe fishes & Euro style nymphing. Both use a tight line to detect strikes w/no floating indicator, primarily short casts, and a pair of weighted nymphs on droppers. Where they diverge is that the Europeans use colored line (mono or fly line backing) for a "sighter"/strike detector in their leader, sometimes 3 weighted flies to get down (whereas Joe uses 2 and adds split shot when necessary), 10 foot or longer rods (last I knew Joe mostly used a 9 footer, although he mentions using longer rods on occasion), and a leader with a relatively long, level fluoro tippet (from the sighter down) to sink the flies & cut thru the water with a minimum of drag.

I would say the Euro style is a more "tweaked" version of the way Joe fishes, with some subtle yet important improvements. The colored line in the leader is a huge help in detecting strikes. Great Lakes Steelheaders have been using thin running lines for a long time. I got into Steelheading 23 years ago, and friends of mine had already been using that technique for a while. Very effective in fast/deep water where any other traditional FF techniques would fail. Not "fly fishing" by some people's definition, but who cares? The long tippet section really helps get your flies down, and the 10 foot or longer rods are a big help in getting a drag free float, lengthening the drift, setting the hook, cushioning the tippet & playing the fish.