Ronnie Baker Brooks learned from his father, other blue...

Ronnie Baker Brooks learned from his father, other blues legends

Ronnie Baker Brooks learned from his father, other blues legends
June 13, 2010
By Walter Tunis
LexGO

It goes without saying that the life of a bluesman embraces the blues. But in a slumping economy that heightens the challenge of championing a decidedly non-commercial roots-music style, relations between the blues and the artists who play it for a living are redefined.
Take the working life of Ronnie Baker Brooks, a guitarist schooled in the music by his esteemed bluesman father and the father's circle of legendary artists. Brooks retains a solid national following for his music. But life with the blues in a climate where money for everyone is tight? You get the picture.
"I can't complain considering I'm still working," said Brooks, 43, who performs Tuesday at Bar Lexington, in the old A1A space. "Things aren't exactly where I would want them to be, as they have been in previous years. But I feel blessed to continue doing what I love to do and still being able to make living at it.
"You just have to kind of fight through it. But the big reward comes from seeing the people smile and forgetting about their problems enough to have a good time. That helps me get over my problems."
For the record, Brooks is hardly pining about his problems. Gigs might be harder to come by in 2010, but his devotion to the blues remains devout and unwavering.
"The blues is the truth," he said. "And the truth will be here forever. My dad always said, 'One day, all the dark clouds will move out of the way and people will see the real stars and the real music.'"
Dad is guitarist Lonnie Brooks, a mainstay of a still-healthy Chicago blues scene and a contemporary of latter-day blues greats Son Seals, Koko Taylor and Albert Collins. All four artists enjoyed a career renaissance during the '70s and '80s with raw and rocking blues albums cut for the Chicago-based Alligator label. The elder Brooks is the only surviving member of that blues pack.
It was through the inspiration of his father and his friends that the younger Brooks came to the blues. He joined his dad onstage at age 9 before becoming a member of the touring group in 1986 at age 18. A recording debut on Lonnie Brooks' Live From Chicago: Bayou Lightning Strikes came two years later.
He began a solo career in 1999, and a sound versed in traditional blues but packed with a considerable rock 'n' roll wallop was born — or rather, reborn. Call it what you will — like father like son or like Lonnie like Ronnie — the rocking blues sound of the Brooks clan had found an heir.
"There was just something about the blues that I gravitated to at an early age," Brooks said. "It was the truthfulness I heard in listening to records by Son House, Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.
"My dad would take me to the clubs, or at least to the ones that would let me in. I got to see Muddy Waters. I got to see Son Seals. I got to see Koko. I was in awe of these people. But I was also pretty intimidated by them. Even when I first saw my father play, I thought, 'Man, I could never do that.' But I had a strong passion for the music. My dad would say, 'Yes, you can. Yes, you can.'"
Dad Brooks wasn't the only motivating musical force. Guitarist Collins, who would regularly sit in at Lonnie Brooks concerts, took an active role in mentoring the young bluesman in everything from development of instrumental chops to simple but important stage etiquette.
"Listening to Albert Collins was like that moment in The Blues Brothers when John Belushi goes into the church. I saw the light. That was the moment. That's when I said, 'That's what I want to do with the rest of my life.'
"Albert would listen to me and say, 'You sound great, but quit frowning when you make a mistake. You frown and everybody is going to know you made a mistake.' I was too serious. I wanted to be perfect. But Albert would tell me, 'Yeah, well, everybody ain't going to be perfect. Just be the best you can be.'
"That changed my whole perspective. I always tell people to this day that, as far as the blues go, my dad lit the spark but Albert poured gasoline over it.
Today, Brooks remains professionally linked to his father's recordings as a player and sometimes as a producer. Outside of his own career, he has collaborated with Tommy Castro, Magic Dick (of the J. Geils Band) and Deanna Bogart in an all-star ensemble called The Legendary Rhythm and Blues Revue. He also turns up as a guest on the upcoming album Red Dog Speaks by another blues-rock vet, Elvin Bishop.
"What I try to do is simply incorporate the authenticity of all those guys I heard growing up and serve as a bridge between what they did and the music of a younger generation, the music my friends were listening to.
"Look, I can't talk about growing up picking cotton or plowing a field with a mule or anything like that. But I can talk about what I was raised around in the South Side of Chicago. And I can take all these styles I grew up listening to and try to make the music mine.
"My delivery is different. But it's what I feel. Hopefully, other people can feel it as well.