Ronnie Baker Brooks – Blues in My DNA
12 Tracks – 51 minutes
The aptly titled fifth album from Ronnie Baker Brooks establishes his long family ties with the blues. He was born Rodney Dion Baker. His father, Lee Baker Jr, is the highly respected blues musician better known by his stage name, Lonnie Brooks. Lonnie kept the music and the blues life in front of him at an early age. In 1976, at age 9, he first appeared on stage to play guitar with his father. After graduating high school, he became a roadie for his father’s band. Koko Taylor advised him to “Learn from your daddy everything you can. And one day, it’ll be up to you to carry the blues forward. Ronnie took heart in this message and Lonnie eventually allowed him to join the band playing bass. As time passed and Ronnie’s proficiency with the guitar improved, Lonnie permitted Ronnie to move up to second guitar. Ronnie made his first recorded appearance on Lonnie’s 1988 album, Live from Chicago: Bayou Lightning Strikes.
His tours with Lonnie put him into contact with many of the blues greatest performers including B.B. King, Elvin Bishop and Junior Wells among others. Willie Dixon taught the importance of delivering a song and Albert Collins, whom Ronnie says was almost a second father to him provided the advice to “Take what you like from what we do and make it your own.
In 1998, with Lonnie’s blessing, Ronnie formed his own label, Watchdog Records releasing three albums starting with Gold Digger (1998), Take Me Witcha (2001), and The Torch (2006). In 2008, he played on Eddy Clearwater’s album, West Side Strut. He released his fourth album, Times Have Changed, on the Provogue label in 2017. Then the pandemic hit, and everything ground to a halt. As life returned to somewhat normal after that extended period, Ronnie started playing around again including some guest appearances with Shemekia Copeland.
All leading to this, his first album for Alligator Records. Ronnie is joined by Will McFarlane on rhythm guitar, Dave Smith on bass, Steve Potts on drums, Rick Steff on electric piano on ten tracks and Clayton Ivey on the Hammond B3 on four tracks. Brad Quinn on sax and Drew White on trumpet guest on tracks 5 & 8. All the tracks were written by Ronnie with exception of “All True Man”, which was co-written by “Big Head” Todd Mohr with him.
The album opens with a strong blues rocker, “I’m Feeling You” and he sings “something you got is the kind of loving I need”. “Lonnie Brooks’ Blessing” is a twelve second sound clip from Lonnie saying “it’s time I give you your first blues lesson, give you my blessing to keep these a blues alive” which immediately shifts into the title song with Ronnie telling his life story as he declares “I ain’t complaining, I’m just explaining, I got love in my blood, the blues in my DNA.”
He prays that “My Love Will Make You Do Right” in a smooth ballad. That is followed with another ballad mixed with Memphis soul, “Accept My Love” as he declares “I’m the one for you” and pleas for her to “Give me a chance to prove my love is true…and give our love one more try.” He declares that he is the “All True Man”, which moves back into a rock mode as he proclaims, “I will love you all morning, all day long…I don’t make promises, I make guarantees.”
He digs deep into the blues on “Robbing Peter to Pay Paul”. He states “that I got the blues so bad, don’t know what I’m going to do.” “My paycheck is coming in, but it is already spent”. He is seeking “Instant Gratification” in another rocking number as he declares “Life is too short, got to live for the day, been waiting too long just to have it my way.” He seeks a woman whom he tells “I Got to Make You Mine” and tells her “You are driving me wild”.
The eight-minute “Stuck on Stupid” is a new version of the song that was originally released on his debut album, Gold Digger. Pure Chicago blues emanates from the song as he cries “I give you all of my money, you go shopping downtown, you come back early the next morning, going to put me down.” “I Found a Dollar Looking for a Dime” keeps his blues groove going as he meets a woman “who was so fine…not easily impressed by every man she meets”. On “My Boo”, he says “I have never met someone that makes me feel like you”.
After the long drought from the recording scene, Ronnie’s welcome return certainly quickly re-establishes him at the top of today’s blues echelon. His voice has not lost any of the soul that he demonstrated with those earlier recordings. He states “I’ll always carry on and represent the blues in everything I do. Dad started the fire, Albert poured the gas on it, and Koko put the grill on”.
