Arts & Entertainment
Guitarist and Songwriter Ronnie Baker Brooks Embraces His Family Legacy With ‘Blues In My DNA’
Ronnie Baker Brooks. (Jim Summaria)
“No city compares to Chicago,” Chicago Blues Hall of Famer Lonnie Brooks told WTTW News in 2001. “Chicago’s the blues capital. Everybody left the South to come here and record for Chess Records, and they stayed here.”
Brooks was a key figure in Chicago blues for decades. Born in Louisiana, Brooks earned a rep as a hot guitarist in Texas before moving north in 1960. A versatile singer-songwriter, Brooks befriended and toured with Sam Cooke, Clifton Chenier and Jimmy Reed. His playing made fans of Roy Clark and Johnny Winter.
Long before Brooks died in 2017 at age 83, his sons had found their own footing in the blues.
But first, they played in their dad’s band.
“What I started is gonna keep going,” the elder Brooks told WTTW News 23 years ago. “I got playing from my grandfather, and they (my sons) got it from me.”
Ronnie Baker Brooks is a soulful singer and guitarist in his own right. He just released “Blues In My DNA” on Chicago’s independent Alligator Records — his father’s home label for many years.
Ronnie’s younger brother, Wayne Baker Brooks, is also a successful touring musician — he plays the Stews, Brews and Blues festival in Highland Park on Nov. 2.
Ronnie Baker Brooks spoke with WTTW News about his new record, his dad’s influence and having the blues in his blood for 57 years.
WTTW News: Ronnie, congrats on the new record. It sounds terrific. I hear you sold out the record release show at Fitzgerald’s.
Ronnie Baker Brooks: It was a great night, man. It was a historic night for my family. I’ve played there many times. I actually used to go there with my dad when I was a kid before I started playing professionally.
Ronnie Baker Brooks and Lonnie Brooks, late 1980s. (Courtesy of Ronnie Baker Brooks)
I often ask artists if they come from a musical family. With you, I know the answer. Take us back to the early days. How did he encourage you?
Baker Brooks: It started when I was 6 years old. He found out I was interested, and he’d sit me on his knee, put his arms around me and place my fingers where they were supposed to be on the guitar. He’d say ‘yeah’ and then show me the next chord. And he’d show me timing, you know: ‘You count before you make the change.’ He broke it all down simply so I could understand and take it in. I can feel those moments every now and then, man. It was precious moments for me. And I remember him telling us: ‘If you like what I like, you’re gonna get all my attention!’ [laughs]
Your dad played a blend of Southern R&B and electric Chicago blues — very soulful and dynamic. What kind of sound are you after?
Baker Brooks: I’ve been blessed to be around the best in an era — the ‘80s and ‘90s — that was so vibrant. We were coming off ‘The Blues Brothers’ and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Then Robert Cray had a big splash in the blues and brought attention to a lot of people, most of them in Chicago, like my dad, Koko Taylor, Eddie Clearwater, Jimmy Johnson, Otis Rush, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, all these people, Mighty Joe Young — and I got to witness a lot of that in their prime, and I realized I can’t do what they’ve done, but I try to incorporate what I learned from them. So I’d call what I’m doing today ‘Chicago Blues Now.’
You have a new record ‘Blues In My DNA’ — your first on Alligator Records. Tell us about the title song.
Baker Brooks: My father has a song called ‘I Was Born With the Blues’ — and that was the first album I played on. It was recorded live at Blues Etc. on Belmont and Racine. I was listening to it during the pandemic because I was doing a Facebook Live show every week and I ran out of material and thought maybe I should start doing my dad’s songs. I played with my dad so long that these songs are stuck in my head — how they should go and how they should be sung — but I could never do it that way. Then I got the courage to try it, listened to a lot of his material and that song stood out. And I thought, ‘Man, I was born with the blues, too — it’s in my DNA!’ and that’s how that song came about.
What’s it like to be on the inside of the Chicago blues scene? Is it competitive or friendly?
Baker Brooks: It’s a good energy, because if you’ve got talent and you see someone else with talent, it makes you get better because you don’t want to fall on your face. The musicians that I’ve been around and grew up with made me better. I wanted to hold my own. That’s how it is in Chicago because we’ve got so many great musicians here, but we’re inclusive. It’s a family environment but, you know, once you get onstage you gotta come with it! [laughs] So it’s a friendly competition.
What are you listening to? Anything that would surprise us?
Baker Brooks: No, it’s always been blues. I’ve been listening to Shemekia Copeland’s record, ‘Blame It on Eve.’ Been listening to Coco Montoya’s record ‘Writing on the Wall’ — he’s on Alligator, too. And then Billy Branch from Chicago, he’s in the studio doing a new record and I just appeared on a track with him.
Ronnie Baker Brooks and Lonnie Brooks, circa 2005. (Courtesy of Ronnie Baker Brooks)
Are you able to do this for a living, or do you keep a day job?
Baker Brooks: I’ve been blessed to be able to do this for a living. My father set the table up for me and my brother to allow us to have this as a career. The one job I thank God for giving me was to be able to take care of my parents when they got ill. I was their caretaker and that was my way of paying them back. Of course I had family members help me, too. That was the most productive I ever felt in my life. When I’m playing music and writing songs, I feel like I’m contributing, but when I was doing that for them, that was my meaning for being on this earth. I was so caught up in the passion of making sure they had what they needed.
Thanks for sharing that. I met your father once, and he was very generous with me when I was young and green. Any other memories you care to share?
Baker Brooks: He was always encouraging, and he knew me so well that he knew just what to say to give me confidence and what to say to keep me from being arrogant. [laughs] I left his band at the end of 1998 — my last show was at Buddy Guy’s Legends on New Year’s Eve and the last song we played with me as a member of his band was ‘Like Father, Like Son.’ In ’99 I started my own career, and a few years into my solo career I went to see dad somewhere in Chicago, and we were sitting in the dressing room, and he said, ‘Son, I didn’t realize how much you were doing for me until you were gone.’ I was like, ‘Wow! Thank you, Dad!’ It was one of the best compliments my father ever gave me.
Ronnie Baker Brooks leaves this weekend to be part of the Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise in the Caribbean. On Nov. 9, he plays the Blues Heaven Festival in Denmark and then returns to the U.S. to tour in support of “Blues In My DNA.”
Marc Vitali is the JCS Fund of the DuPage Foundation Arts Correspondent.
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