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Acclaimed blues guitarist and singer Lonnie Brooks had a stellar career, working in Chicago\u2019s West Side and releasing scattered singles throughout the \u201860s. By 1969 he landed an album deal. By the late 1970s he would be featured on an Alligator compilation, and soon thereafter he joined the label. Between 1978 and 1999 he would release nine albums for Alligator. He passed away in 2017, but his legacy has been carried on by son Ronnie Baker Brooks.<\/p>\n
Ronnie Baker Brooks launched his recording career in 1998, recording for Watchdog and Provogue. In a sense he has come how with his latest: Blues in my DNA<\/i> finds him on Alligator Records. The 11-track collection of original songs is the product of a regular writing schedule that Brooks undertook during the pandemic. Creating new material on a weekly basis for a series of lockdown-era Facebook concerts gave structure and purpose to the guitarist, who had previously spent most of his time on the road.<\/p>\n
The album is an unabashed nod to Brooks\u2019 father. After the strong opening of \u201cI\u2019m Feeling You,\u201d a brief tape of Lonnie speaking sets the tone for the record: \u201cSon, I\u2019ll give you your first blues lesson\u2026 keep these blues alive!\u201d<\/p>\n
And he does just that. With a variety of songs that touch on Chicago blues, Memphis soul and more, Ronnie Baker Brooks demonstrates that melodic guitar artistry runs in the family. He follows that message with the chunky stomp of the title track, full of crackling guitar interplay, a pulsing bass line and a storytelling lyric.<\/p>\n
With a walking r&b feel, \u201cMy Love Will Make You Do Right\u201d features an assured vocal and searing licks slipped in between Brooks\u2019 vocal phrases. As with many tracks on the set, second guitarist Will McFarlane provides supple support. Though he\u2019s credited with \u201crhythm guitar,\u201d McFarlane\u2019s role extends well beyond strumming chords; with the help of tight rhythm section Dave Smith (bass) and Steve Potts (drums), he paints a sympathetic sonic canvas upon which Brooks can sing and play to his heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccept My Love\u201d is a classic slow jam, filled with passion and determination. Subtle use of Hammond and horns leans into the gospel feel of the tune as Brooks peels off one of his most emotion-filled guitar solos. For \u201cAll True Man\u201d it\u2019s back to stomping, swaggering blues in the classic style. The shuffling \u201cRobbing Peter to Pay Paul\u201d won\u2019t win points for lyrical originality, but it\u2019s playful and fun. \u201cInstant Gratification\u201d is a riffy, uptempo rock crossover, and it\u2019s very effectively done.<\/p>\n
A first-person lyrical approach characterizes Blues in my DNA<\/i>, and \u201cI Got to Make You Mine\u201d doubles down on that. Brooks showcases some B.B. King style on the extended workout of the \u201cRed House\u201d-ish \u201cStuck on Stupid.\u201d Guitar fireworks punctuate \u201cI Found a Dollar Looking for a Dime,\u201d and album closer \u201cMy Boo\u201d swings. Start to finish, Brooks has a winner with his latest. Dad would have been proud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Acclaimed blues guitarist and singer Lonnie Brooks had a stellar career, working in Chicago\u2019s West Side and releasing scattered singles throughout the \u201860s. By 1969 he landed an album deal. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28866,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","cat-1-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28865"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28867,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28865\/revisions\/28867"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}