My boyfriend and I have this theory that people can be divided into two broad groups when it comes to talent: Animals and Machines. Animals are pure artists and play by feel. Machines are much more technical. Bach was a machine. In the guitar world, Steve Vai and Yngwie Malmsteen are examples of Machines. There are also Animal-Machines, and Machine-Animals. I can't think of any examples of these right now.... maybe John Mayer, who is an excellent mimic.
Anyhoo, I digress...Stevie Ray Vaughn is a straight up ANIMAL. In the realm of Animals and Machines, I don't think one is necessarily better than the other. But I do love me some Stevie. A few years ago, I made this Pandora station based off of "Call me The Breeze" by JJ Kale. Some really good guitar music sprang out of it. I'd listen to it at work, and I noticed that most of the time that someone's playing really hit me in the heart, it was Stevie Ray Vaughn playing. I wish I had a better way to explain it.