Neither. Johnny Winter, hands down. Now I love Clapton and SRV and all of the other that have been mentioned, but they can't match Johnny when it comes to playing from the gut. If you want your blues to sound like it's being performed in an inner city bar at 3 in the morning by someone who is ready to dig down and get dirty, then Johnny's your man. I've seen Buddy in concert and he was an incredible showman. Clapton probably is God, and SRV was brilliant in his constantly changing variations. But Johnny at his best is better than anyone I've ever heard. Listen to the title track (Hell, listen to the whole damn CD) of "Third Degree". Johnny is not polished or practiced or precise like all of the others. His style is raw, powerful, fluid and genuine. To my mind, this is what blues is supposed to be. He has had a very up and down career. A lot of his recordings sound awful. But, IMHO, no modern blues guitarist has ever immersed himself so throughly into the blues as has Johnny Winter. And on a good day, I doubt if even "Slow Hand" could keep up with him.
