Louie Shelton on Vallerie (Monkees) and Diamond Girl (Seals and Croft);
Brent Mason on Neon Moon (Brooks and Dunn);
Hank Marvin on "The Shadows Know" album (The Shadows)
One more vote for Hendrix's "Wind Cries Mary" and anything by Wes Montgomery.
Jeryy Garcia, particularly on American Beauty.
Trey Anastasio (Phish) on pretty much anything of his (he's good at overdriven too).
Pat Metheny.
And countless others i can't recall.
And I think Knopfler may have listened to a bit of Richard Thompson! I really get a lot of the same vibe from their playing, but Knopfler seems to be a bit more bluesy while RT has the raga/folk thing going a bit more.
I've thought the same about Knopfler. No knock on him, because when you choose who to be influenced by you might as well choose some great musicians.
It's a funny thing. I love the blues and I love Richard Thompson yet I think that Thompson must be the most UN-bluesy player that I know of. I can't really detect any blues influence in his playing other than a little that "sneaks in through the back door" via his rockabilly and old rock 'n roll streaks.
I'm kinda suprised the Allman Brothers haven't come up yet, so I'm gonna have to tip my hat to ****ey Betts, on "Blue Sky."
Not sure what amp he was using, but I think we can all be pretty certain it was an original 57 Goldtop he was playin.
Hendrix on "Little Wing", well actually any of his clean stuff...
Then, yah, Dire Straits...
And actually one of my favorites is actually from (cough) Van Halen 3 (cough), in the song "A Year to the Day", not an excellent song or anything, but the clean playing in the beginning is excellent. Definently a different side of Ed, but very cool.