I see a lot of best of jazz lists here, but what about the blues???
Mmm I'm afraid I don't know enough of it to answer my own question (dumbo!!!)

Stevie Ray Vaughn was an amazing blues guitarist.

i'm not a huge blues guy but i like some stuff... i'm not a huge fan of anything traditional and the blues are no exception... i liked the way hendrix approached the blues but most purists wouldn't even accept him as a blues musician because he strayed from the traditional...

gordie johnson from big sugar is another of my favorite blues guys... again he's not so traditional there's a SOLID funk/raggae groove backing his blues but they're still a great blues band... mind you they've been playing together for the last 15 years so johnson's decided to call it quits with that band and they're wrapping things up on new year's eve... but i can guarantee that it would be one BADASS show...

My knowledge of blues is so minimal that I couldn't really say who is the best. I like a lot of Hendrix and Clapton's blues stuff. Stevie Ray Vaughn is good too. I guess out of all the styles out there that I know nothing about (pretty much everything), blues is what I'm most interested in learning about so it's nice to see what everyone else has to say.

Son House
Robert Johnson
John Lee Hooker
Buddy Guy
Jimi Hendrix (sort of blues, but a great blues player)

I dld some Robert Johnson songs and I like a lot of them, the same with Muddy Waters

Whoa! Equinox has the real stuff! Have you heard Blind Blake? He really tears it up. I've been getting a lot from the Yazoo record label lately.

never took a listen to Blind Blake, but now I think I will

yeah, great list!! I think I wanna add BB King!

Great list indeed! I love BB King as well. And I'd have to say that, despite everything, Eric Clapton did do some great Blues playing over the years.

I would also add:
SRV (as already mentioned)
Albert King
Albert Collins
T-Bone Walker
Little Walter (or are we just talking guitar players?)