I'm just saying that there are, and have been, many many great creators who are/were great without advanced knowledge of music theory. I was beginning with those Delta blues players, but you could start anywhere.
In my view, for every 'book smart' muso, there's a guy or gal saying 'I don't know what the chord is, I just put this finger there instead of there'.
One could take the view that advanced theory is more useful to a critic than a creator (although as I said, I'm not against learning!).