Lonnie Brooks
has been writing, recording and touring for nearly
six decades. He learned to play in his native Louisiana, and then on his
journey north he cut a string of Gulf Coast hits including “Family Rules,’’ “The
Crawl,’’ and “Roll, Roll, Roll.’’ Once he landed in Chicago, his home for more
than 50 years, he hooked up with Alligator Records and released “Two Headed Man,’’
which quickly became famous for the “Voodoo Blues’’ sound that is now his
trademark. Even more ground-breaking of his 15 total records is his
Grammy-nominated album “Bayou Lightning.’’ He’s appeared on television shows
ranging from “Hee Haw’’ to “The Late Show with David Letterman.’’ And he’s been
on the silver screen, most recently in “The Express’’ starring Dennis Quaid and
also in “Blues Brothers 2000’’ with Dan Aykroyd and John Goodman. But he is
perhaps best known for his showmanship at his live shows, at one-time playing upwards
of 300 dates a year at everywhere from the San Francisco Blues Fest to the
Montreux Jazz Festival to Holland’s the North Sea Jazz Fest. He’s been Eric
Clapton’s onstage guest at Buddy Guy’s Legends club in Chicago and will play
for tens of thousands as the headliner – his fifth time -- at the Chicago Blues
Fest this June.
Ronnie Baker Brooks
first picked up a guitar as a toddler, played
on stage at the age of 9, and joined his dad’s band right out of high school.
So when he released his debut album, “Golddigger,’’ in 1998, much of the blues
world was already familiar with his immense talents. But Golddigger showed he
was a force on his own, earning a WC Handy Award nomination for Best New Blues
Artist. He hasn’t looked back, and now the Ronnie Baker Brooks Blues band
headlines shows around the country and world. After his third release, “The
Torch,’’ Ronnie noted how he is moving blues into the future. “I grew up among
the best of the best,’’ Ronnie says. “Every time I play, I feel like I’ve got
to do it with the authenticity and passion that I saw in guys like Buddy Guy,
Muddy Waters, B.B. King and my father. But I also have to put my twist on
it. None of those guys repeated what came before them.’’ Brooks’ twist involves
enlivening blues-rock with deep soul and funk rhythms. Working with Minneapolis
producer Jellybean Johnson, a veteran collaborator of Prince and Janet Jackson,
Brooks takes roots sounds and transforms them into something that spans the
ages.
Wayne Baker Brooks
latest single release is “Something’s Going
Down,” featuring two-time platinum selling artist Twista, GLC and Blues legend
Sugar Blue. The genre-busting track
combines heavy Chicago Blues, Rock, Soul and Rap/Hip-Hop. Wayne has been blazing trails since the release
in 2004 of the top-rated album, “Mystery,’’ which received five awards from
Real Blues magazine, a four-star review in the All Music Guide and many other
accolades. He has headlined clubs and festivals worldwide
and also hosted All-Star Blues Bash concerts featuring some of the biggest
names in the business, including Pinetop Perkins, Elvin Bishop, Big Head Todd, Shannon
Curfman and Chris Thomas King. In 1999 he performed for then First Lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton at Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation at Chess Studios in
Chicago with special guests Bo Diddley, KoKo Taylor and Lonnie Brooks while
Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Chuck Berry looked on. In 2005, he got top billing on the live
broadcast of WXRT’s “Chicago Blues Fest Brunch” at Legends during which he was
given the “rare Buddy Guy seal of approval,’’ host Tom Marker noted. Wayne
performed at the 2003 MLB All Star Game and also appeared in “The Express’’ and
“Blues Brothers 2000.’’ He is a co-author of Blues for Dummies with his father and Cub Koda — a book former President
Bill Clinton said he “absolutely loved.’’
PDF Version