It struck me that this is all largely a matter of perspective. I recall many years ago when Riviera Paradise first came out, I was taking lessons from a very good player locally - he could play any style from classical to country to blues, rock, flamenco - you name it - he could play it, and play it well. I commented to him how much I loved that song and SRV's playing style. His comment back was that Riviera Paradise only served to demonstrate SRV's "limitations". At the time I didn't understand his point. Now, when I look at a transcription of it, I clearly understand his point, but at the same time, he was really missing something very important, which is:
You don't need to get all fancy to communicate emotion in music.