Ronnie Baker Brooks plays such a serious guitar, one might say it’s in his DNA.
The son of Chicago blues great Lonnie Brooks, Brooks (whose birth name was Rodney Dion Baker), along with his brother Wayne Baker Brooks, is one of a number of gifted blues offspring, including the likes of Shemekia Copeland (daughter of Johnny Copeland), Bernard Allison (son of Luther Allison), Shawn Holt (son of Magic Slim), Mud Morganfield (Muddy Waters), and John Lee Hooker Jr. Brooks earned his chops in his dad’s band in the 1980s before setting out on his own in the 1990s, releasing his first solo album, Golddigger, in 1998. (The Gibson SG Brooks is holding in the picture above belonged to his dad and appeared on his dad’s first Alligator Records album Bayou Lightning in 1979.)
On Blues In My DNA, Brooks’ saucy guitar playing is on full display. There’s not a bad song on the album. His spicy guitar playing is evident within the first notes of “I’m Feeling You.” Other great songs include the title tune (listen below), the soulful “Accept My Love,” and “Stuck on Stupid.”
About the author: Bill Wilcox is a roots music enthusiast recently relocated from the Washington, DC area to Philadelphia, PA and back again.