Nice post Brad. I completely agree that you can be a fantastic musician without the theory. The guitarist in the band I play in is really good, but he can only read the basic chords and that’s it, as soon as it involves sheet music or complex chords he has no idea, but he can play it all by ear.
It can be difficult at times when communicating, but in practice it’s more like a language barrier than something that limits his musical ability. I’ll be the first to admit I too sometimes get impatient with him so I can understand Paul’s sentiments too. It’s just a different breed of musician really, not necessarily inferior.