Born Into The Blues: An Interview with Ronnie Baker Brooks

The second generation Chicago blues guitarist on his new Alligator album, what he learned from his father, Albert Collins, KoKo Taylor and Buddy Guy. And much more.

Photo by Paul Natkin

Ronnie, the title Blues Is in my DNA says a lot! You obviously grew up around the music. When did you first realize that you too were going to be a lifer? That this was what you were going to do?

My father, Lonnie Brooks started teaching me to play guitar at the age of 6, my first time on stage I was 9 years old but when I was around 12, I quit to play basketball. The moment I decided to get serious about playing music, I was 18 years old and my Dad's roadie. 

Lonnie and his band were performing at the Kingston Mines night club on the north side of Chicago and the great Albert Collins came by to see and sit-in with my father! Albert had a lot of buzz after winning a Grammy for the Showdown album with Johnny Copeland and Robert Cray (Alligator) and he also had a popular Seagrams wine cooler TV commercial with Bruce Willis, so he was hot!

Lonnie and Albert had known each other since the late 50's during my father's Texas days as"Guitar Junior," and I've known Albert since 1981, so I was excited to see him Lonnie and Albert were vibing hard in this incredible jam in front of a packed house. I'm standing on the side of the stage watching this jam and the hair on my arms stood up and I got goosebumps! My dad was on fire and Albert was too. I thought I saw fireworks coming from their guitars.

It was like a Texas Shootout and at that moment I knew I wanted to play the blues. It was just like the "I've seen the light" scene in the church from the Blues Brothers movie! True story! Right there I asked God, if he would keep me healthy that this is what I want to do for the rest of my lif.! Ever since then I've been blessed to play music for a career.

Two part question. Other than your father, what other guitarists that you met or were around had a primary influence on you: 1 As a musician. 2 As a person.

Well because of my father, I've had the chance to meet many of his friends and colleagues, and many times the opportunity e to jam with them and pick their brains. A lot of them embraced me because they saw the passion and desire I have for the blues, so 1 and 2 are often combined.

Albert Collins was a huge influence on me as a musician and a man. BB King was a major influence as well. As a child, BB use to send me personal notes through my father encouraging me to keep my grades up and practice when I was too young to go into clubs to see him. When I became older and had the opportunity to open shows for him... he would sometimes introduce me by saying, "I feel like a helped raise this young man ! "

Luther Allison was like a family member too.  Luther and his son (and my childhood friend/brother) Bernard Allison got me back into playing guitar after I quit to play basketball. They told me to pick my guitar back up because, "We have enough Micheal Jordans, we need some more BB Kings."

I've been blessed to rub shoulders with so many blues guitar greats, like John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Robert Cray, Elvin Bishop, George Thorogood, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, Son Seals, Hubert Sumlin, Magic Slim, Johnny Copeland, Jimmy Johnson and Eddy Clearwater to name a few!  All of them have given me both musical and life lessons! I'm not name dropping. I'm just holding them up!

Photo by Peter Jordan

What non-blues guitarists have a had a big impact on you?

Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix and Ernie Isley all played the Blues too, but are probably more known for a different genre.

How about some non guitarists?

KoKo Taylor! She was like my Blues Mom - at a very early age she was very encouraging and supportive to me. When Bernard Allison was in her band we did some shows together and she was so encouraging to both of us, saying, "Y'all stick with these Blues cuz someday y'all gonna have to keep them alive."I love and miss KoKo.

Junior Wells was also influential to me with music and life lessons! I've often shared this advice Junior gave me when I was young: "If you can get over your first love heartbreak, then you've got your diploma in the Blues.” I had the honor and privilege to briefly play in the band for both KoKo Taylor and Junior Wells.

Otis Clay was like an uncle to me. Otis was known for singing his Soul and R&B hits along with his very strong gospel background, and he told me the first secular band he was in was with my father! They were very good friends. Otis coached and encouraged me when he saw me taking on a solo career, and infused confidence in me when I began to produce other artists.

Is it meaningful for you to be recording for Alligator, which was your father’s home for so long?

Yes. The platforms my father and Bruce Iglauer (Alligator Records founder) built enabled my brother Wayne Baker Brooks and I to grow musically! A lot of what I'm doing today, I've learned from those platforms.

The first album I played on (Bayou Lighting Strikes) and the first record that I ever sang on (Like Father, Like Son) were both on Alligator. The staff at Alligator is great and work really hard. I grew up in the business with some of staff that are still there today, so it feels right to finally record with the label, which is still based in Chicago.

For the album cover of Blues In My DNA, I decided to pose on Chicago's lakefront with the same guitar my father used on the cover of his first Alligator album Bayou Lighting, which also had a photo taken on Chicago's lakefront. The 1967 Gibson SG guitar we're both posing with is the first guitar my father bought me when I was 7 years old! He used that guitar on several of his early Alligator recordings. 

Lonnie Brooks by Kirk West

Are you familiar with the photos that Kirk West took of your dad? He has some great stories about taking Lonnie out to meet some of is country music heroes.

Yes... I've seen some of the cool photos taken by Kirk West of dad and Roy Clark.  My father was very versatile musically and he loved country music! Roy Clark loved my father. He even got Lonnie to appear on the TV show Hee Haw ! 

I remember watching that show with my father and he told me, "I'm going to be on that show one day" and it happened. Lonnie also appeared on the TV show "Soul Train" when it was taped in Chicago.

My father told me that Dolly Parton was a very young girl recording for Goldband Records when he recorded his first record there! They both recorded for Capitol Records also. 

What else do you know about the influence of country on your dad?

As a young kid I remember him writing a lot of his songs in country then rearrange them to the blues. He would play Hank Williams or Ernest Tubbs around the house a lot. He told me while recording the song "The Train and The Horse" at the Capitol Records studio in LA Roy Clark and Glen Campbell were there watching him record the song.

Lonnie recorded the country song "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down" back in 1958 or 59 under his then name "Guitar Junior" and he told me that song made a little buzz for him in Louisiana and Texas. He said while performing that song in front of a country audience the crowd booed him because he was black. It hurt him so bad that he decided not to play country live in concert again. I like country music too. Though I never tried to play it, but I can feel it.

Can you name 5 primary guitar influences - other than your dad?

BB King, Freddie King, Albert Collins, Albert King and Buddy Guy. In 1993, I got to play in the Alligator All-Star Band behind KoKo Taylor, Junior Wells and Lonnie Brooks on tour with Buddy Guy, Eric Johnson and BB King. I even got to jam with Eric a lot on that tour! I use to watch everyone's show on the side of the stage. One night in Miami at the end of BB's set as he was walking off stage he put his arm around me and told me "Son, I see you watching me every night, learn all you can from all of us. I want you to know that your dad is just as good as me. We just have different styles." That was one of the most coolest and proudest moments. I ever experienced with BB!  

Was your father encouraging of you and your brother pursuing music as a career, or did he ever try to warn you off?

Our dad never forced it on us. He wanted all of us to do something we were passionate about. When I decided to quit playing music to play basketball, my father use to play his gig all night Friday, then get up Saturday morning, take me to my basketball game, sit there and watch me play, take me to lunch after the game then go home and rest up for his gig later that night! I didn't even know I broke his heart until he told me years later when he knew I was serious about playing music again. 

The paperback edition of my fourth book, Brothers and Sisters: the Allman Brothers Band and The Album That Defined The 70s, was recently released by St. Martin’s Press. It was the third consecutive one to debut in the New York Times Non-Fiction Hardcover Bestsellers List, following Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan and One Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band. My first book, Big in China: My Unlikely Adventures Raising a Family, Playing the Blues and Becoming a Star in Beijing, about my experiences raising a family in Beijing and touring China with a popular original blues band, was optioned for a movie by Ivan Reitman’s Montecito Productions. I am also a guitarist and singer with two bands, Big in China and Friends of the Brothers, the premier celebration of the Allman Brothers Band.